eCommerce Today — July 20, 2017: Top things you should know about

Sabir Semerkant
Jul 20, 2017 · 3 min read

By Sabir Semerkant

Top eCommerce things you should know today — July 20, 2017.

  1. 10 Sad Back-to-School Shopping Stores You Won’t Be Visiting This Year. While the National Retail Federation (NRF, industry group) estimates that parents will spend $83.6 billion this year amid increased consumer confidence, 46% of shoppers with children in grades K-12 will shop online this year. That’s still less than the 57% who’ll hit department stores and the 54% who’ll shop at discount stores, but that also isn’t where the story ends. [TheStreet]
  2. Amazon Update: (1) Amazon introduced Amazon Pay Places. Amazon Pay Places lets you pay for real-world shopping using your Amazon info, starting with TGI Friday’s orders (2) Amazon launches Early Reviewer Rewards Program to help marketplace sellers with product reviews. Here’s how it works: Once Amazon accepts a marketplace seller to the program, Amazon reaches out to customers who have already purchased the product to write a review in exchange for a small Amazon gift card ($1-$3, for example). Sellers have no influence over which customers write reviews or the content of the reviews. Only products with less than five reviews are eligible for this program. (3) Amazon’s ‘Treasure Truck’ deals program is expanding nationwide [TechCrunch, Digital Commerce 360]
  3. Why You Should Look to China for the Future of Retail. Chinese companies have been weaving together the online and offline worlds, trying for an ever more seamless fit. Read what Alibaba and JD.com are doing with optimizing the omni-channel experiences and technologies.[WSJ]. Also, Chinese Online Retail Sales Accelerate [Barrons]
  4. Apple Names New China Head as Its Sales Fall. Ms. Ge Mahe takes the helm of the China operations as Apple’s dominance in one of its most important markets has become increasingly uncertain. In recent quarters, its sales in the country have struggled — for the period ending April 1, revenue dropped 14 percent — in part because of increased competition from a range of domestic competitors putting out ever-cheaper, high-performing smartphones. Apple.com ranks #2 as an internet retailer in the U.S. [NYTimes, Digital Commerce 360]
  5. BankruptcyData’s Analysis Reveals 35% YTD Increase In Retail Bankruptcies. Small businesses make up the lion’s share of all the businesses filing for bankruptcy: Companies with sales of $500,000 or less generated 56% of all business bankruptcy filings during Q2 2017 and 61% YTD. Companies with less than 50 employees generated 87% of all bankruptcies during the first six months of 2017. [SeekingAlpha]

Check out these stories

One Last Thing…

Please tap the ♥ button if you found this article useful? You will deliver a special form of happiness to me. ♥ ♥ ♥

About the Author

Sabir Semerkant is a data-obsessed, Transformative and entrepreneurial Senior Marketing Executive in E-commerce and Digital Marketing offers progressive global experience at growth oriented companies in the consumer goods and e-commerce sector. He is currently the SVP of eCommerce at VaynerMedia working alongside Gary Vaynerchuk and team. He can be found via LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. His articles are posted on Medium.

LinkedIn | Twitter

)

Sabir Semerkant

Written by

Chief Strategy Officer @NaturesPlus | @Vaynermedia Alum @GaryVee | #eCommerce | #Investing | #Startup | #Entrepreneur | #coop52 | LinkedIn http://bit.ly/2usHDHg

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade