Notably, more than half of the online retailers that Digital Commerce 360 surveyed intend to spend more on technology in 2024. In the current inflationary environment, higher costs should not come as a surprise. However, costs are also under pressure — and there are clear technology- and objective-driven concerns taking precedence.

Online retailers expect to spend more on tech in 2024

In the report’s survey of online merchants, Digital Commerce 360 asked participants directly about emerging technologies. While more than half of respondents had no plans to invest in virtual reality, voice commerce, or internet of things, one category showed up as something 33% of respondents were already using and 29% were considering for more investment. That was artificial intelligence.

An ecommerce platforms comparison by pricing, features and more

The 2024 Ecommerce Platforms Report also digs into which platforms the top online retailers in North America are using. That includes numbers for annual web-based sales and clients on our Top 1000 list. But it also includes an ecommerce platforms comparison with information on pricing, niches served, and volumes of sales flowing through each via their customers on the Top 1000 list. In addition, each platform profile breaks down current and upcoming features that Adobe, Salesforce, Shopify, Oracle and others are deploying.

Ecommerce platform use cases and a guide to choosing the best fit

Among the trends seen in these profiles, a majority of platforms in the top 10 are rolling out new AI-enabled enhancements. These cater to use cases in search, inventory management, customer service and other areas. The report goes a step further, though, and delves into who’s getting it right and which uses for AI retailers find more useful. Then it delivers a handy walkthrough with tips for any online retailer trying to choose an ecommerce platform in today’s environment.

All of these details and more can be found in the full, downloadable 2024 Ecommerce Platforms Report, available now.

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“We are excited to add an iconic brand such as Rag & Bone to Guess, further diversifying our portfolio with complementary customer bases and price points. We look forward to partnering with WHP Global to build on Rag & Bone’s heritage,” Guess CEO Carlos Alberini said. “Guess has an incredible platform with a strong global distribution network and outstanding licensee partners that will enable us to power the growth and expansion of the Rag & Bone business.”

Guess is No. 178 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North America’s leading retailers by online sales. Rag & Bone ranks No. 652.

Terms of the deal

Guess will buy all of Rag & Bone’s operating assets, the retailer said. Guess and WHP Global will also each own half of Rag & Bone’s intellectual property, according to a public statement. They will create a licensing agreement that gives Guess exclusive rights to manufacture and sell licensed products in exchange for royalties.

The retailers did not share all financial terms of the deal. However, Guess’ commitment in the agreement totals $56.5 million, with the potential for an additional $12.8 million dependent on Rag & Bone’s 2024 results.

The deal is expected to close during the first quarter of Guess’s 2025 fiscal year. 

Rag & Bone’s history

Rag & Bone was founded in New York City in 2002. As of February 2024, the retailer operates 34 stores in the U.S., and another two in the U.K. Its products are also sold through other retailers, including Nordstrom (No. 21 in the Top 1000), Saks Fifth Avenue (No. 28) and Neiman Marcus (No. 72).

In 2023, Rag & Bone generated $250 million in revenue, it said. The apparel company is privately held.

Following the acquisition, Rag & Bone will continue to be headquartered in New York City. It will operate as an independent fashion brand under the Guess umbrella, the retailer said.

“I am thrilled about this new relationship with Guess and WHP Global. Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter as Rag & Bone joins forces with a much larger international fashion company,” Rag & Bone chairman Andrew Rosen said in a written statement. “It’s a great opportunity for our team to take the brand to the next level, blending our unique styles and respective expertise to create new possibilities for Rag & Bone on a global scale.”

Why the acquisition is significant for Guess

Guess will make its first-ever acquisition in its 43-year history with Rag & Bone, co-founder and chief creative officer Paul Marciano said. 

In its most recent financial report, Guess said revenue grew 3% to 651.2 million in its Q3 ended Oct. 28. Guess CEO Alberini said the addition of Rag & Bone will improve the retailer’s financial position further.

“We expect the transaction to deliver earnings per share accretion in the first year and strong value creation for our shareholders for years to come,” he stated.

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Moreover, building an intuitive verification and ongoing monitoring experience that handled every possible outcome and that optimized conversion rates would require substantial bandwidth and experimentation – across product management, UX/UI design, engineering, and data science.

Compliments of Houzz

The post Increase Hiring Confidence with Verification appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

Their business model hinges on having a large number of pre-verified contractors at their disposal, but the team quickly found that license verification and onboarding was a huge obstacle. To verify a new contractor Freemodel’s internal team had to manually guide each company through a lengthy, high-touch verification process. Multiply this by hundreds of contractors each month and there was simply no way to scale their business. Their manual process also resulted in an unacceptable amount of contractor churn.

In a typical month only about 50% of trade partners actually completed the verification process, slowing company growth and jeopardizing ongoing projects. To achieve their growth targets the team knew they needed a  better solution to verify, onboard, and manage their contractors.

Compliments of Houzz

The post Frictionless Onboarding and Sustainable Growth appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

“This is a painful reality and not one that I take lightly,” Nike CEO John Donahoe said in the memo. “We are not currently performing at our best, and I ultimately hold myself and my leadership team accountable.”

Nike ranks No. 9 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s database of the largest North American e-retailers by online sales.

Why Nike layoffs are happening

Nike’s layoffs come as part of an ongoing restructuring effort announced in December 2023. In that plan, the company outlined its intent to cut $2 billion in costs over three years.

“While interest in sport, health, wellness and comfort has never been stronger, we are in a highly competitive industry where speed and end-to-end execution is critical to win,” Donahoe wrote in his emailed announcement. “To compete, we must edit, shift and divest less critical work to create greater focus and capacity for what matters most.”

For Nike, that means reinvestment in areas of growth and streamlining budgets. As recently as its last earnings call in December, Nike chief financial officer Matthew Friend indicated that the company “saw softness in digital traffic and higher levels of promotional activity across the marketplace.” He also cited “indications of more cautious consumer behavior around the world in an uneven macroenvironment.”

Timeframe for Nike’s job cuts

The global layoffs will occur in two phases, CNBC reported. The first of those would begin Friday, with the second ending by the time Nike’s fiscal fourth quarter concludes.

The workforce reductions referenced in the Thursday memo would follow reported cuts from November and December, as reported by The Oregonian. The total number of workers laid off during that time was unknown.

Nike reported having 83,700 employees worldwide as of May 31, 2023.

Where layoffs will occur

Specific departments were not named in the memo, though recent leadership changes have touched design, innovation, marketing and technology operations, The Wall Street Journal reported. Earlier cuts reported by The Oregonian encompassed brand, engineering, human resources, innovation, recruitment and sourcing divisions.

Cuts in Europe, the Middle East and Africa would occur on unique timelines in observance of local labor laws. Meanwhile, retail and warehouse workers were not expected to be included in the cuts.

In a Nike statement shared with Complex, the company named areas of strength where it hopes to build, even as the workforce reduction continues.

“Nike’s always at our best when we’re on the offense,” the Nike spokesperson said. “The actions that we’re taking put us in the position to right-size our organization to get after our biggest growth opportunities as interest in sport, health and wellness have never been stronger.”

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For the first time, this comprehensive Report predicts the growth of American-based online retailers, projected through 2025, and provides an in-depth analysis of category performance and expert commentary from our Research team.

It also offers an insider’s look at category performance and expert insights into two key segments: Apparel & Accessories and Sporting Goods.

Digital Commerce 360 breaks down how each category has performed and how it is expected to perform through 2025 based solely on activity for the Top 2000 companies headquartered in the U.S.

It also includes:

• an overview of the state of U.S. ecommerce and looks ahead to the growth expected in the next two years
• ecommerce traffic; shopper demographics; spending; future forecasting
• 15+ charts and graphs on the state of U.S. ecommerce

Here’s a peek at some of the data we’ve analyzed:

The post The Future of Ecommerce and a Deep Dive into Apparel and Sporting Goods appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

A report from the Federal Economic Competition Commission (COFECE) — an agency in the Mexican government responsible for regulating anti-competitive behavior — found that Amazon and Mercado Libre control too much of the ecommerce market’s sales and transactions in the country, impeding new merchants from successfully entering the market.

Amazon and Mercado Libre are the largest online marketplaces in Mexico. Together, the report says, they control more than 85% of online marketplace sales and transactions in the country.

“We are aware of this preliminary report and are closely collaborating with COFECE,” Amazon said in a statement.

Mercado Libre issued a statement saying it was analyzing COFECE’s preliminary report, which the marketplace described as the start of the process. It also pledged its cooperation.

Amazon.com Inc. is No. 3 in the Global Marketplaces Database. MercadoLibre Inc. is No. 8. The Digital Commerce 360’s database ranks the largest online marketplaces around the world based on third-party gross merchandise value (GMV).

Amazon, Mercado Libre investigated in antitrust report

“There are no conditions of effective competition in the marketplace service market for sellers,” according to a translation of the preliminary opinion in the COFECE antitrust report. The report cites an investigation the commission held from March 31, 2023, to Oct. 27, 2023.

The report found that in Mexico, Amazon and Mercado Libre also:

• Have the ability to set prices
• Create barriers to entry into the market
• Exert significant competitive pressure over smaller competitors

It says although there are some competitors in the market, most of them are much smaller in size compared to Amazon and Mercado Libre. As such, the smaller competitors’ ability to exert competitive pressure is not significant, the regulator asserted. Additionally, it states that Amazon and Mercado Libre are the only competitors that have systems for collecting and processing large volumes of data. Those systems allow the companies to offer sellers various tools within their platforms. The tools then incentivize sellers to remain on the marketplaces. That ensures a sufficient number of users to generate and maintain industry effects, according to the report.

COFECE report proposes corrective measures

Among the barriers to competition cited, COFECE identified that Amazon and Mercado Libre artificially influence buyer behavior by offering streaming services in their loyalty programs. As a corrective measure, COFECE proposes the marketplaces dissociate streaming services from their memberships and loyalty programs.

Another barrier to competition is the lack of transparency in offer management. It asserts that Amazon and Mercado Libre’s marketplaces use algorithms to manage offers. The regulator is concerned that a lack of transparency in that process could undermine efficient market functioning.

“COFECE also orders Amazon and Mercado Libre to take all necessary and sufficient actions to ensure that sellers can find comprehensive information about the variables and weighting factors they consider in selecting the featured offer,” according to a Mexico Business News report on the COFECE findings and corrective measures.

Also at issue is the idea that a preference for proprietary logistics solutions creates a third obstacle for market competitors.

“Amazon and Mercado Libre give preferential treatment to products from sellers who use their fulfillment services,” the report said, according to Mexico Business News.

“A seller would be unable to hire a single company that offers fulfillment in a comprehensive manner, and from there participate in various sales channels,” the report said.

As a solution, COFECE proposes that the marketplaces modify the criteria for the “Prime” and “Full” labels on products eligible for delivery using the marketplaces’ fulfillment networks. It suggests modifying the criteria so the labels are not exclusively or preferentially assigned to sellers who use the marketplaces’ fulfillment services.

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It was “a phenomenal year for Shopify,” said president Harley Finkelstein in an earnings call with investors this week.

In North America, 45 of the Top 1000 online retailers use Shopify as their ecommerce platform. The Top 1000 is Digital Commerce 360’s database of the largest online retailers in the region by annual web sales. In 2022, those 45 online retailers combined for more than $8.29 billion in web sales.

Shopify revenue, profit and GMV grow in Q4 2023

In its fiscal Q4, Shopify revenue grew 24% year over year to $2.1 billion. Excluding Shopify’s logistics business, that growth rate shifts to 30%. It also marks the third consecutive quarter that growth (excluding logistics) has been greater than 25%, said Jeff Hoffmeister, chief financial officer. For the full year, Shopify revenue increased 26% over 2022 to $7.1 billion.

Of that $2.1 billion in Q4, $1.1 billion was gross profit. That’s 33% year-over-year growth in Q4 profit. Shopify gross profit in 2023 grew to $3.5 billion. That’s a 28% increase from $2.8 billion in 2022.

Meanwhile, Shopify GMV grew 23% in Q4 to reach $75.1 billion. That’s $14.2 billion more than Shopify’s GMV in Q4 2022. It’s also the largest quarterly GMV growth rate since the pandemic-driven rates in 2021, Hoffmeister said. For the full year, Shopify GMV grew 20% — or 38.7 billion — over 2022, to reach $235.9 billion in 2023.

In terms of channels, Shopify revenue from offline sources, which includes offline subscriptions and point-of-sale hardware, was $441 million. That’s more than five times what it was four years ago, Finkelstein said.

More than 70% of Shopify’s online checkouts in 2023 came from mobile devices, Finkelstein said. In Q4, the Shop App “nearly reached” $100 million in GMV in a single month, he said not specifying the exact figure.

Internationally, cross-border GMV was approximately 14% of total GMV in Q4. Europe, the Middle East and Africa represent 27% of Shopify’s total merchant base. More than $1.2 billion in Shopify revenue comes from sales in the region.

Shopify also noted growth in its B2B channel.

The biggest sales period: Black Friday through Cyber Monday

In the four days from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, Shopify merchants collectively generated $9.3 billion in sales, Finkelstein said. That’s 24% year-over-year growth. About 61 million consumers worldwide purchased from brands that use Shopify as their ecommerce platform, he said. More than 55,000 merchants had their highest-selling day ever on Shopify in that period, he added.

Part of that stemmed from scaling the platform to accommodate more traffic, Finkelstein said. Shopify handled, on average, 967,000 requests per second, he said. That’s the same as 58 million requests per minute. It’s also almost 80% higher than Shopify’s peak traffic two years ago, Finkelstein said.

Cyber Monday is still the largest online sales day in the U.S., with web sales reaching $12.4 billion in 2023, according to Adobe Analytics data. Cyber Monday 2023 online sales grew 9.6% over 2022’s $11.3 billion. Black Friday is the second largest at $9.8 billion in online sales. That represents 7.5% growth over 2022’s $9.12 billion.

Shop Pay and Shopify merchants

Finkelstein said that compared to 2022, Shopify has 35% more merchants from outside North America using its ecommerce platform. It has added brands including Dollar Shave Club, Authentic Brands Group, Buy Buy Baby, On Running and more, he said.

“In April, an external study by a big three consulting company confirmed that Shopify’s overall conversion rate surpassed the competition by up to 36% and on average is 15% higher than others,” Finkelstein said.

And when consumers use Shop Pay, conversion can grow by half, he said. More than 150 million users have signed up for Shop Pay, as of Q4 2023. For the quarter, it facilitated $18 billion in GMV. That’s up 58% year over year for the quarter and up 50% for the full year.

Shop Pay has facilitated a cumulative $127 billion since launching in 2017, according to Finkelstein.

Shopify 2023 highlights

“We cannot talk about 2023 without mentioning AI,” Finkelstein stated. “We launched our suite of AI-powered tools known as Shopify Magic, an AI shopping assistant on our Shop App and further embedded AI tools within Shopify to increase productivity and streamline administrative tasks that have saved our merchants and our team thousands of hours of work, enabling us to ship faster and make great decisions quicker.”

The ecommerce platform brought nearly a dozen AI-enabled tools to its Shopify Magic product suite in 2023.

Shopify also partnered with Amazon.com Inc. to release the “Buy with Prime” app for Shopify merchants. The deal gives merchants the choice to offer Buy with Prime directly within their Shopify Checkout. This provides Shopify merchants access to Amazon’s logistics network.

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The direct-to-consumer luggage brand is undergoing a larger restructuring that also includes “the elimination of a traditional executive team structure,” according to a statement shared with Retail Dive. 

Staffing changes were made because “the team recognizes the need for a more nimble approach amidst the changing consumer landscape,” according to the statement. 

“We’re reconfiguring the traditional exec team structure in order to promote better decision-making,” CEO Jen Rubio told Inc. “What I think this is doing is setting us up to be able to grow the right teams to work on the right projects.”

“Disruption has always been at the core of our company’s DNA,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Away is dedicated to delivering the highest-quality travel products and experiences to our customers, and we believe that these steps will better position us to continue to be an innovative leader in the category.”

Away is No. 391 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North America’s leading retailers by online sales.

Changes at Away

Away held an earlier round of layoffs in May 2023. At the time, it cut 22 employees, including chief commercial officer Laura Willensky.

In 2023, the retailer also expanded its executive team. It hired Carissa Barrett as vice president of retail. She previously worked at Byredo, Saint Laurent, and Prada (No. 187 in Digital Commerce 360’s Europe Database). At the same time, Away hired Amanda Brody as vice president of brand. Brody previously worked at L’Oreal (No. 17 in Europe) and Charlotte Tilbury. 

In January 2023, Away brought on Carla Dunham as chief marketing officer with a mandate to increase marketing spending and capitalize on post-pandemic travel.

Away may have grown its executive team too quickly, Rubio told Inc.

“I was really proud that Away was able to attract people with such impressive accolades and such great experience,” she said. “Maybe I was in a little bit of a rush to have the company grow up so quickly, and in the midst of that, we lost a little bit of the magic that got us here.”

Away’s possible sale

Away was exploring a potential sale in 2023, Bloomberg reported.

Rubio told Inc. that’s not the plan for 2024. However, “there has to be some plan on the horizon” for an IPO or acquisition eventually, she said.

This year, Away will focus on increasing the number of product launches and working with retailers on wholesale, according to Rubio.

Other online retail and ecommerce layoffs

Away joins other retailers and marketplaces in announcing recent layoffs. EBay plans to lay off 1,000 workers, 9% of its total workforce. EBay ranks No. 6 in Digital Commerce 360’s Global Online Marketplaces database. The database ranks the 100 largest such marketplaces by third-party GMV.

Macy’s, Amazon, and Wayfair also all cut their workforces in the first month of 2024. In addition, REI announced that it would lay off 357 employees, about 2.2% of the retailer’s total workforce, The Seattle Times reported.

Macy’s ranks No. 17 in the 2023 Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000. Amazon ranks No. 1, Wayfair ranks No. 10, and REI ranks No. 67.

Levi Strauss (No. 191) also said it would lay off 10% to 15% of its corporate workforce, and Estee Lauder (No. 43) will lay off 3% to 5%.

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The apparel retailer hired M3 as a restructuring advisor and law firm Kirkland Ellis, the WSJ reported. Its share price fell 40% by end of business on Tuesday.

Express is No. 114 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North America’s leading retailers by online sales. 

Express reports growing debt

The retailer reported $274.7 million in debt in the third fiscal quarter of 2023. That was an increase from $235.4 million in the year-ago period. $65 million of the debt is from a loan the retailer took out in 2023 at 15% interest as a “short-term measure to strengthen our liquidity position,” former chief financial officer Jason Judd said in a Q2 earnings call.

The retailer is in talks with its creditors, which include Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Hilco Global and Gordon Brothers Group, Bloomberg reported.

If lenders agree to give Express more liquidity or repayment options, the retailer may avoid bankruptcy. Express is also beholden to its vendors, who could stop shipping products without a strict payment schedule, according to the WSJ report.

Express financial results

The apparel retailer, which includes the UpWest and Bonobos brands, reported net sales grew 5% to $454 million in the most recent fiscal quarter ended Oct. 28. However, it also recorded an operating loss of $28.7 million and a net loss of $36.8 million.

Express introduced an expense reduction initiative in 2022, with a goal of saving $200 million by 2025.

“The company is continuing to conduct a comprehensive review of its business model to identify actions that are expected to meaningfully reduce pre-tax costs and enable a more efficient and effective organization and has engaged external advisors to assist in this effort,” it said in a third-quarter press release.

Express saved $30 million during that third quarter and was on track to achieve $80 million in cost savings for 2023. 

The retailer undertook extensive discounting to sell apparel in the quarter, it said. That had a negative impact on margins.

“Beginning last year, we faced a number of challenges, including declines in our customer file, conversion and store traffic, driven by missteps in our merchandise strategy, most notably in women’s, where we were out of balance across categories, price points and wearing occasions,” CEO Steward Glendinning told investors. “This misalignment between our assortment architectures and customer demand significantly impacted our historic sales and margins.”

Express executive changes

Former CEO Tim Baxter announced his resignation in September, one day after the retailer announced Q2 results. Express announced Stewart Glendinning would replace him. Glendinning previously worked as group president of prepared foods and chief financial officer at Tyson Foods.

Chief financial officer Jason Judd left Express in November, one year after joining the company. The retailer has not yet named a new CFO, and senior vice president Mark Still is interim CFO.

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The post Express prepares for possible bankruptcy with debt restructuring appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.