Monthly Archives: January 2021

Live stream commerce – live selling over online video by a retailer or brand with contemporaneous, purchases from customers on the same platform – has seen growing adoption. With a more immersive and personal shopping experience than traditional online shopping, live stream commerce broadens interactions and deepens connections between sellers and consumers, giving companies a […]

When the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 resulted in government-mandated shutdowns, consumer spending for things other than essential grocery items fell off a cliff. Because of the lack of spending, coupled with federal stimulus payments and uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, and despite growing unemployment, personal savings rates increased dramatically. The author of […]

Growing up, it seemed that my parents never returned a gift.  Later, it became apparent that maybe half the gifts were put to use and the other half were put in a drawer – permanently. Well, brick and mortar retailers and e-commerce retailers today wistfully long for such simple consumer behavior.  However, the purchase-return – […]

In the first major post-holiday report, Mastercard projected U.S. retail sales grew 3.0 percent in the expanded selling season from Oct. 11 through Dec. 24, short of 2019’s four percent gain, but ahead of a forecast for 2.4 percent growth. Mastercard SpendingPulse tracks online and in-store spending with all forms of payment. The Wall Street […]