Report: Alibaba doubles down on Chinese food startup, leads $1B funding round

The Chinese e-commerce juggernaut's investment in Ele.me may be part of a long-term strategy to boost its Alipay usage.

By Dan O'Shea • May 25, 2017

Google Assistant now controls Geeni smart light bulbs

The company’s move rivals Ikea's recent push into the smart home market — which some onlookers say will take off this year.

By Dan O'Shea • May 25, 2017

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

9 trends in last-mile delivery

From drones to in-city warehouses, e-commerce is forcing changes in how retailers and carriers do business.

By Deborah Abrams Kaplan • May 25, 2017

Pinterest pins monetization hopes on autoplay promoted video

Adidas, J.C. Penney and L'Oréal Paris are among the brands that have tested new video ad options on the social media platform.

By Rob Williams • May 25, 2017

Bulletin draws seed funding to play host to startup retailers

The company raked in $2.2 million to construct more flexible rental spaces that allow e-commerce companies to rent on a month-to-month basis.

By Dan O'Shea • May 24, 2017

Ikea’s smart lights plug into voice assistant market

In a move to broaden the appeal of its new Tradfri smart lighting system, Ikea will let Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri control its devices.

By Dan O'Shea • May 24, 2017

Raise rolls out gift card-fueled mobile wallet app

The gift card marketplace company is morphing its mobile app into a mobile wallet that allows consumers to buy gift cards and redeem them in-store and online.

By Dan O'Shea • May 24, 2017

Lancôme boosts mobile speed, sales with Google’s progressive web app

The fast, app-like platform simplified mobile purchasing and led to a more than 50% boost in sessions and 17% rise in conversions.

By Natalie Black (Koltun) • May 24, 2017

Google plots downfall of last-click attribution, ascension of machine learning

A new service to measure marketing's impact across devices and channels and more sophisticated use of machine learning were in the spotlight at Google Marketing Next.

By Chantal Tode • May 24, 2017

Warby Parker develops eye tests via mobile app

The once pure-play retailer is testing a new app allowing customers to confirm their vision prescriptions, but claims it isn't trying to replace eye doctors — yet.

By Dan O'Shea • May 23, 2017

Voice AI startup hires Google’s text-to-speech leader

Ian Hodson, an industry veteran and mentor of engineering talent, has left Google to join Voysis as a Distinguished Architect.

By Dan O'Shea • May 23, 2017

Target to pay $18.5M settlement for 2013 data breach

The retailer is closer to putting its massive holiday season snafu behind it, but it's still awaiting court approval to settle a consumer class action lawsuit.

By Dan O'Shea • May 23, 2017

Report: 45% of retailers expect to use AI within 3 years

The complexity of commerce is expected to expand exponentially as technologies like AI drive more unified experiences.

By David Kirkpatrick • May 23, 2017

Apple, Visa sued for alleged patent infringement over Apple Pay

Tech company Universal Secure Registry has filed a lawsuit claiming that Apple Pay infringes on four of its patents.

By Dan O'Shea • May 22, 2017

City Furniture equips store associates with IBM mobile apps

The Florida-based regional retailer is deploying enterprise mobile apps from IBM to help store associates improve customer experiences.

By Dan O'Shea • May 22, 2017

JD.com plots massive 'heavy-load' drone logistics network in China

The company aims to construct the country’s largest low-altitude drone logistics network for devices that can carry shipments weighing more than a ton.

By Dan O'Shea • May 22, 2017

Lowe’s unveils AR app for in-home projects

The new Vision app for the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro lets shoppers envision redesigned living spaces with virtual drop-ins of the retailer's products.

By Dan O'Shea • May 21, 2017

Report: Automation threatens up to 7.5M retail jobs

Retail cashier jobs, 73% of which are held by women, are at highest risk of loss to automation technologies, according to a study conducted by Cornerstone Capital Group.

By Dan O'Shea • May 21, 2017

New Amazon research center propels drone traffic management

The Prime Air Development Center will employ about a dozen software developers tasked with creating a traffic control system to work the company’s planned fleet of delivery drones.

By Dan O'Shea • May 21, 2017

New Aptos Labs funnel millions into ‘unified commerce’ platform

The company's innovation development team is working on a "cloud-native, mobile-first" platform that promises new features and integration with its Singular platform.

By Dan O'Shea • May 18, 2017

Android Pay, PayPal deepen partnership

Users of the payment app can now link to their PayPal accounts to pay with one touch at more than 16 million PayPal merchants.

By Dan O'Shea • May 18, 2017

The War for the Shopping List

As consumers increasingly look for ways to save time in their lives they are turning to tools that maximize food shopping convenience

By Chris Bryson, Unata Founder & CEO • May 18, 2017

Lululemon snaps up REI's Averill to fill CTO spot

The move comes not long after the company said Miguel Almeida, who was hired less than two years ago to overhaul digital e-commerce operations, was stepping down.

By Dan O'Shea • May 18, 2017

Salesforce injects AI into Commerce Cloud Einstein

The company has enhanced its platform with order management, predictive sort and other e-commerce support features.

By Dan O'Shea • May 18, 2017

Google touts Assistant’s new e-commerce features

At the company's developer conference, an executive demonstrated the conversational commerce capabilities by ordering delivery from Panera and paying via fingerprint technology.

By Dan O'Shea • May 17, 2017