Google tops Facebook in driving early holiday traffic to retail sites

Despite the hype around social commerce, organic and paid Google search appear more effective at delivering site traffic this season, according to a study. 

By Dianna Christie • Dec. 20, 2019

Fastest retailers fulfill orders in fewer than 2 days

A recent test on Cyber Monday found 64% of retailers were able to deliver an entire order within one week.

By Lisa Rowan • Dec. 20, 2019

Explore the Trendline➔

How retailers can win over shoppers during the holidays

Retailers are pulling all the levers to drive loyalty during the industry’s all-important quarter.

By Retail Dive staff

Amazon expands its free return policy

The e-commerce giant will accept label- and box-free returns on select items at more than 5,800 locations, reducing the number of pickups for drivers.

By Tatiana Walk-Morris • Dec. 19, 2019

NRF expects nearly 148M will shop on 'Super Saturday' this year

Traffic over the last weekend of the holiday season has grown in recent years, but with a solid lead up this year consumers may have less left to buy. 

By Lisa Rowan • Dec. 19, 2019

Consumers' common return reason? Wrong color, size or fit

One-third of consumers don't find the returns process to be easy, leaving room for improvement from retailers, a Narvar report found.

By Tatiana Walk-Morris • Dec. 18, 2019

Dior lights up holiday collection with first Instagram makeup filter

Unlike other virtual try-ons that demonstrate cosmetics to mobile consumers, Dior Makeup's face filter adds a fireworks effect to selfies.

By Robert Williams • Dec. 17, 2019

Mastercard introduces mobile wallet gift card in the UK

The move, which comes in time for the holiday season, enables recipients to easily access and spend funds across dozens of retailers. 

By Tatiana Walk-Morris • Dec. 17, 2019

Amazon bans third-party sellers from using FedEx Ground to ship Prime orders

The e-commerce giant cited a "decline in performance" across FedEx Ground and Home services, blaming the carrier for delivery delays this peak season, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

By Morgan Forde • Dec. 17, 2019

Package deal: What holiday delivery can tell us about the future of retail

Cyber Monday was the biggest shopping day on record in the United States. But someone has to deliver all those products. 

By Kaarin Moore • Dec. 16, 2019

Gen Z shoppers to give more secondhand gifts

About a quarter of holiday shoppers will give resale items as presents this year, according to a Deloitte report.  

By Tatiana Walk-Morris • Dec. 13, 2019

Big cities, rural areas could experience high holiday package delays

About 9% of deliveries nationwide are projected to be late, according to a LateShipment.com report, with that figure spiking to 16.5% in some areas.

By Tatiana Walk-Morris • Dec. 11, 2019

Mobile accounts for 67% of traffic to fashion sites this holiday

Conversion rates also jumped 53%, suggesting that shoppers are becoming accustomed to buying apparel on their smartphones, per a new report. 

By Tatiana Walk-Morris • Dec. 10, 2019

Instagram taps Celine Dion for shoppable video of retro fashion

Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Adidas and Oscar de la Renta are among the 18 brands offering products to buy directly through Instagram.

By Robert Williams • Dec. 10, 2019

Amazon turns to Refinery29, celebs for holiday attention

Its sales will no doubt be robust, but when it comes to marketing during the season, the e-commerce giant is at something of a disadvantage.

By Daphne Howland • Dec. 9, 2019

What the holidays could do to department stores

It might be a make-or-break season for a segment already under siege — and it's more dire for some than for others.

By Daphne Howland • Dec. 9, 2019

Macy's launches SoGifted shop to highlight female entrepreneurs

The offering can be found at seven locations during the holidays, and comes in the midst of leadership changes at the department store. 

By Tatiana Walk-Morris • Dec. 6, 2019

Consumers aren't fully embracing virtual shopping tools this holiday season

Only about half of shoppers will use voice assistants, chatbots and other emerging technology, according to a new survey.

By Tatiana Walk-Morris • Dec. 5, 2019

What's gained and lost when retailers drop firearms sales

Two of the nation's largest hunting retailers exited the category ahead of an important selling season. 

By Lara Ewen • Dec. 5, 2019

Mobile accounted for two-thirds of Black Friday traffic

However, 60% of purchases are still made via desktop, a recent Bloomreach report found.

By Tatiana Walk-Morris • Dec. 5, 2019

Banks eye a bigger helping of holiday retail point-of-sale pie

Citi, JPMorgan Chase and Mastercard have expanded their loan options this year to fend off upstarts and entice interest-averse buyers.

By Hillary Richard • Dec. 4, 2019

A record 189.6M shopped over Black Friday weekend: NRF

With six fewer days, shoppers may have been eager to take advantage of their time off to get things done, and they did so on and offline.

By Daphne Howland • Dec. 4, 2019

Cyber Monday was Amazon's biggest shopping day ever

Marketplace sellers sold more items that day than during any other 24-hour period, the e-commerce giant said, though it didn't get very specific.

By Daphne Howland • Dec. 3, 2019

Retailers boosted social commerce ads for Cyber Weekend

Retailers funneled 45% of their online media budgets into paid social ads, which accounted for 33% of total revenue from Thanksgiving to Sunday.

By Robert Williams • Dec. 3, 2019

Cyber Monday poised to net record $9.4B in the US

The holiday event already brought in $473 million in online sales by 9 a.m., according to Adobe Analytics research.

By Daphne Howland • Dec. 2, 2019

PayPal: Consumers plan to ramp up social shopping this holiday season

Nearly two-thirds of Canadian social media shoppers said they are more inspired by gift recommendations on the platforms than those in stores.

By Robert Williams • Dec. 2, 2019