Digital Commerce 360 Insights

The U.S. healthcare system needs some treatment. Recognized physician leader Dr. Halee Fischer-Wright shares her prescription for rebuilding the healthcare system's health, and says it begins with improving the one-on-one relationships patients have with their doctors. This includes incorporating smart science and digital technology into the relationship and the service medical practices provide.

In this episode, Dr. Fischer-Wright shares findings from her recently published book, "Back to Balance: The Art, Science, and Business of Medicine," and anecdotes from her years as a practicing physician and more recently as the CEO of the Medical Group Management Association.

Andy Williams smoothly sings the holidays are the "most wonderful time of the year," and many online retailers agree, although they cast it as frantic too. The November-December sales period accounts for an out-sized proportion of annual sales, and online retailers increasingly do especially well during the Christmas season.

This episode covers industry forecasts for holiday season sales, how merchants large and small are staffing up to manage holiday volume, and the marketing programs e-retailers are putting in place to draw consumers this season. Retailers discussed include Macy's, Amazon, Jet, J&P Cycles, Leather Gloves Online and Shoebacca.

Visit Digital Commerce 360's Internet Retailer for more coverage.

In this episode, Stefany Zaroban, the head of Internet Retailer's research team and the author of “Health and Beauty Online: Where the Big Money Is,” digs into one of the more dynamic product categories in online retailing.

Because of its high margins, consistent repeat order rates and the generally small and lightweight products sold (read: inexpensive to ship), health and beauty goods are among the most profitable in online retailing, and the 58 merchants Stefany studied in researching her report drove about $9 billion in sales online last year, out of a total market size of $12 billion. In this podcast, Stefany covers the digital strategies of the segment's leading players, such as Estée Lauder Cos., and startups including Beautykind, which is taking an innovative, hands-on approach to building its customer base.

U.S. consumers spent nearly $360 billion on apparel last year, and nearly 24% of that spending happened online. In this episode, Don Davis, editor and author of Internet Retailer's 2017 Online Apparel Retail Report, explores the market forces at play compelling consumers to shift their apparel spending online, which merchants are winning or losing online, and how retail chains and brand manufacturers are responding to the digital challenge. Retailers discussed include Canada Goose, Amazon, Walmart, M. Gemi, Nike and Ivory Ella.

This quick-hit episode divulges results from a survey Internet Retailer conducted with BizRate Insights of more than 2,800 online shoppers. Consumers shared their perceptions of some of the largest e-retailers and exactly which shopping apps they have--and use--on their phones. Senior research analyst Fareeha Ali shares the findings. 

Digital healthcare is a transformative market opportunity--and retailers and technology providers want their piece of it. In this episode, Internet Health Management editor Mark Brohan shares what he's learned from two months of research and interviews with top executives eagerly pushing into the digital healthcare market, such as the healthcare go-to-market strategies of Salesforce.com and Akamai, and online retailers including online pharmacy PillPack and Orthotic Shop. 

In this Executive Voices episode, Marie Tillman, founder and CEO of Mac & Mia, a growing startup that sells clothing for kids from newborn to 6 years of age, shares her story. Marie founded Mac & Mia out of her garage in 2014 while on maternity leave from her day job as president of the Pat Tillman Foundation, a non-profit organization named after her first husband that’s awarded more than $14 million in academic scholarships to military veterans and their spouses. In this episode, Marie tells us about why she decided to get into e-commerce, the inspiration behind Mac & Mia, and the parallels she sees in leading a startup venture and the foundation. We recorded this segment on site after taking a tour of Mac & Mia’s headquarters—a warehouse space in downtown Chicago.

Amazon.com Inc. officially closed its deal to buy Whole Foods for $13.7 billion dollars this week, effectively making its first really substantial entry into bricks-and-mortar retailing, and probably giving supermarket executives everywhere nightmares.

In closing the deal, Amazon confirmed a number of the theories that industry watchers had been batting around since Amazon announced its plans to by Whole Foods back in June.

In this episode, Katie Evans, Internet Retailer’s technology editor who has been following the Amazon Whole Foods story, and who authored Internet Retailer Magazine’s September cover story on the same topic, talks about the moves Amazon is beginning to make in the grocery market and what it means for retailing at large.

Investment in e-commerce by venture capitalists slowed in 2016. In this episode, James Melton, Internet Retailer research analyst and author of the "Top Investors in E-commerce Report," explains why investors backed off, whether their caution is temporary and points to the markets and business models that continue to draw attention from investors. He also discusses the e-retail companies that garnered significant investment, including Boxed.com, Memebox, and the Wish shopping app. 

Online marketplaces are digital versions of shopping malls: Lots of merchants and lots of products in one place. In this segment, Internet Retailer senior research analyst Fareeha Ali shares details on the biggest online marketplaces in the U.S. (Amazon, eBay and the growing Walmart.com), and online marketplaces' global leader, China's Alibaba.