Prime Day, running for 48 hours on July 15-16, is expected to generate $5.8 billion in global sales, with an estimated 250 retailers drafting in its wake as more of them realize the huge potential. Also, Prime membership has grown to 105 million in the U.S., and electronics, home goods and apparel are the hot categories.
Amidst shifting consumer demand and a move toward true omnichannel, retailers’ ability to leverage their physical presence is vitally important. Options such as deliver from store, buy online pickup in store (BOPIS), buy online return in store (BORIS) and delivery drop-offs in lockers are a major advantage over online retailers.
After weeks of concentrating its fire on Amazon, Walmart is now dealing with a flank action from Target as the latter has fully integrated its Shipt same-day delivery service with Target.com. Walmart, for its part, just launched a $98 per year subscription program for same-day grocery delivery, a service that normally costs $9.95 per order.
Amazon just turned up the heat in the three-way battle for dominance atop ecommerce sellers, announcing more than 10 million items eligible for its new one-day delivery standard via Prime. This compares with 220,000 items available for free next-day delivery from Walmart, announced in mid-May, and 35,000 from Target ReStock.
Is emulating Amazon enough to succeed? No, because very few companies have the resources. For most, winning the war means quietly striking partnerships and collaboration initiatives with competitors that were once unthinkable. At the center of these initiatives are new collaboration brokers, enabling product innovation at scale.
Target reported ecommerce sales growth of 42% in the first quarter, with positive guest response to same-day digital fulfillment services. The quarter marked Target’s eighth consecutive quarter of comparable sales increases. CEO Brian Cornell said the retailer’s comparable sales growth of 4.8% was a bit ahead of expectations.
Firing back at Amazon’s move less than three weeks ago, Walmart is now offering free next-day delivery to customers in Phoenix and Las Vegas, with plans to expand to Southern California within days and 75% of the U.S. population by the end of the year. Walmart’s deal is mostly free: There’s a $35 order value threshold to qualify.
In order for blockchain to succeed on a global scale in the transportation of goods, an open source standard will be required, according to a FedEx executive who heads up a blockchain alliance working toward that goal. The first standard of the Blockchain in Transport Alliance, on shipment location tracking, was published in March.
Two months after dropping out of the Google Shopping Actions platform and the Google Express same-day delivery service after a year-long test, Walmart is adding Google’s voice ordering capability for online groceries as it continues to wage war with Amazon.
While Amazon dominates ecommerce overall, accounting for roughly half of all online consumer sales according to some estimates, it is not out in front in the grocery wars as competitors like Walmart and Target with more physical assets are winning in curbside pickup.