Fanatics, Uber deliver Cubs gear on demand after team delivers World Series title

Almost 30 vehicles hit Chicago streets stocked with official Cubs championship-themed merchandise available for sale through the Uber app.

By Dan O'Shea • Nov. 3, 2016

Hollar's dollar store-like app draws $30M in new funding

Available online and as an iOS or Android app, Hollar features 10,000 live SKUs for a variety of items, most priced between $2 and $5.

By Dan O'Shea • Nov. 3, 2016

Explore the Trendline➔

What's shaping the e-commerce landscape?

From pivots in digital strategies to challenges retailers must overcome with reverse logistics, here are some of the forces shaping online retail.

By Retail Dive staff

Sephora brings more beauty bot tools to Facebook Messenger

The new Sephora Reservation Assistant allows customers to book appointments for makeovers at stores nationwide, while Color Match augments the existing Virtual Artist lipstick finder tool.

By Dan O'Shea • Nov. 3, 2016

Study: Fake retailer apps bedevil mobile shoppers

Two out of three retailers still don’t have an official Apple iOS or Google Android mobile application, leaving open an opportunity for fake retail apps to emerge.

By Dan O'Shea • Nov. 3, 2016

How retailers can maximize mobile revenues this holiday shopping season

More and more consumers are visiting retailers via mobile devices, but few are completing purchases. Here’s how merchants can turn mobile into a moneymaker. 

By Jason Ankeny • Nov. 2, 2016

Prime members get discounts at Amazon's physical bookstores

The new pricing scheme could indicate the company's approach for other brick-and-mortar plans and an extension of its overall Prime strategy.

By Daphne Howland • Nov. 2, 2016

Wal-Mart e-commerce execs exit in wake of Jet merger

The retail giant also plans to incorporate Jet's “smart basket” dynamic pricing system into its flagship Walmart.com site.

By Daphne Howland • Nov. 2, 2016

IBM acquires Fluid's personal shopper unit to beef up Watson

Fluid's bot-based conversational product recommendation platform uses Watson-enabled natural language interaction to assist shoppers across digital channels.

By Dan O'Shea • Nov. 1, 2016

Shoppable photos coming soon to Instagram

Images can be tagged with pricing information and product descriptions, and will link directly to brand websites for purchase.

By Peter Adams • Nov. 1, 2016

Amazon rolls out Black Friday exclusives, app enhancements

The shopping app's new features allow customers to scan delivered packages to see what's in them without opening them and to compare real-life items with other product options.

By Daphne Howland • Nov. 1, 2016

Inside the final days of Borders' bankruptcy — and what Mike Edwards learned as its last CEO

Despite several CEOs' best turnaround efforts, Borders bookstores are no more. The liquidated chain's last CEO opens up on just what went wrong — and what other retailers can take away.

By Corinne Ruff • Nov. 1, 2016

Moody's: Retail sector stable, healthy holiday sales ahead

Home improvement, dollar stores, specialty retail and off-price will drive revenues, while other segments — including department stores, apparel and footwear, office supply and discounters and warehouse clubs — face headwinds.

By Daphne Howland • Nov. 1, 2016

Amazon delivers cheaper, limited version of Prime to China

The new service doesn't include digital content streaming and offers free shipping only on foreign products that meet a certain price threshold.

By Dan O'Shea • Oct. 30, 2016

Adobe forecasts blockbuster $91B holiday retail season

Cyber Monday is set to be the largest online shopping day of all time, raking in a projected $3.36 billion in sales.

By Daphne Howland • Oct. 28, 2016

Report: Amazon planning as many as 2K grocery stores

Half of the first 20 Amazon Fresh-branded pilot stores will offer minimal 'click-and-collect' grocery pickup services, while the other half will offer more traditional merchandise, services and store layouts. 

By Daphne Howland • Oct. 28, 2016

Wal-Mart tests dispensing machine for in-store pickup

The machine contains many items of different sizes that have been ordered online by customers, and upon arriving at the store, customers input a numeric code to retrieve their package.

By Dan O'Shea • Oct. 27, 2016

Amazon's shipping ambitions wreak havoc on Q3 results

Amazon reported third quarter net sales of $32.7 billion, up 29%, but surging shipping costs and other expenses resulted in an unexpected profit miss.

By Daphne Howland • Oct. 27, 2016

Deloitte: Retailers to see record web traffic over holidays

Fewer people this year plan to visit big-box retailers, malls and smaller, independent merchants.

By Daphne Howland • Oct. 27, 2016

Trade groups lobby for Alibaba's return to USTR Notorious Markets list

Counterfeit sales are at “crisis levels,” according to a letter signed by 18 trade groups from across North America, Europe and Asia.

By Daphne Howland • Oct. 27, 2016

MasterCard getting into AI game with chatbots for merchants, banks

Consumers will be able to shop and process transactions on messaging platforms, and check out with the Masterpass digital wallet, all through a merchant's bot.

By Dan O'Shea • Oct. 26, 2016

Amazon adds Dash Buttons for 60 more brands

There are now more than 200 different Dash Buttons available, and Amazon claims sales through the one-touch automated ordering program have increased by five times over the last year.

By Dan O'Shea • Oct. 25, 2016

Returns: Meeting customer expectations and inventory challenges

In a competitive omnichannel environment, retailers are racing to keep up with customer expectations. Returns are greater for online retailers, placing a premium on an effective returns process and policy.

Oct. 25, 2016

PayPal adds new payment features through Facebook Messenger

The payments company will make it easier for consumers to link their PayPal accounts to the social networking giant's services.  

By Dan O'Shea • Oct. 24, 2016

Cyberattacks knock out Etsy, Shopify, others as e-commerce security fears mount

Hacker group New World Hackers unloaded 1.2 trillion bits of data traffic on web domain company Dyn's servers, making its customers' sites crash.

By Dan O'Shea • Oct. 23, 2016

Apple alleges Amazon sold counterfeit products in lawsuit

Some 90% of Apple products provided by vendor Mobile Star were counterfeit, according to court documents in a lawsuit filed in Northern California.

By Daphne Howland • Oct. 21, 2016