Amazon’s Key Service Now Delivers Packages Inside Your Home or the Trunk of Your Car

Amazon has long led the way in developing innovative package delivery services. The company originally made free, two-day shipping table stakes for e-commerce companies, and then upped the ante by offering one- and two-hour delivery for Prime members through Amazon… Continue Reading

Hearing from JD.com and Alibaba’s Tmall on the Distinctions of Chinese Retail

This week, the Coresight Research team was at World Retail Congress 2018 in Madrid. There, we heard senior executives from China’s two e-commerce giants—JD.com and Alibaba—speak about what makes Chinese retail unique and what the future of retail could hold.… Continue Reading

The Amazon-Walmart Delivery Wars Continue with Lockers, Pickup Towers and In-Home Delivery

Amazon and Walmart continue to one-up each other in delivery and collection, offering new and innovative ways for customers to receive their orders. Amazon customers can retrieve orders from lockers or choose one- or two-hour delivery in many markets. Amazon… Continue Reading

Brick-and-Mortar Looks Set to Lead the Battle for Millennial, Multichannel Grocery Shoppers

The battle for online grocery shoppers is intensifying. Last week, Jet.com appointed Simon Belsham, a veteran of the UK online grocery industry, as President, signaling a further commitment to grocery by Jet and, in turn, a heightening of competition in… Continue Reading

There Is Much We Can Learn from Retail in China

Shopping is different in China. There, it’s an integral part of social conversations, and it’s not uncommon for people to show each other what’s in their digital shopping carts at dinners and other gatherings. Online, Chinese retailers offer shoppers a… Continue Reading

Tired of Your Old Jeans? Recycle ’Em!

US retailer Target just announced that for a two-week period (March 11–24), customers in the Pacific Northwest can drop off any kind of denim jeans at its stores and receive a coupon good for 20% off a new pair of… Continue Reading

Kohl’s and Aldi Enter a Unique Partnership

Last week, Kohl’s announced that it would be slimming down 12 of its stores and that, as part of a pilot program, 5–10 of those stores will carve out space for separate, adjoining stores that will be leased to grocery… Continue Reading

The State of Artificial Intelligence: Where Are We Now?

The term “artificial intelligence” (or “AI”) is en vogue and is often incorrectly used to refer to things that do not technically qualify as AI. Processors can add apparent “intelligence” to machines by enabling them to turn thermostats on and… Continue Reading

Fewer Happy Returns in Retail Land as Companies Tighten Generous Return Policies

Retailers have finally started to scale back liberal return policies in the face of a litany of abuses by customers. Although there are many legitimate reasons for returns—including receipt of a damaged product, the wrong item or a product that… Continue Reading

Taking a Dive into Amazon’s 2017 Metrics

Amazon wowed analysts and investors last week with a dramatic earnings beat on the back of remarkable fourth-quarter sales growth of 38%. Amazon provides updates on sales in specific international markets only when it reports its full-year results, as it… Continue Reading