Ecommerce & more! 13th-19th Jan2020

Big week this week with #NRF2020 event in NYC! One of the most important event for the future of commerce! While the industry was meeting in NYC, few announcements and news from Bose going “all in” online & closing 119 stores in North America, Bezos pushing his investment in what could be the largest ecommerce market in the world: India, Google continue it’s journey into online commerce with acquisition of Pointy and Acommerce raises 15M !

1.      Bose to close all US stores

The retail apocalypse is far from being over, already this year, we saw announcement from Pier 1 Imports planning closing 450 stores, Chico's up to 250 stores, Gap up to 230, A.C. Moore up to 145, Office Depot up to 90, Bed Bath & Beyond up to 60. 2020 will be another complicated year for retailers which are not adapting to rapid consumer changes. Bose plan to close 119 stores in North America, Europe, Japan and Australia mentioning "Bose products being increasingly purchased through e-commerce.", that’s should be no surprise!!

2. Amazon to invest $1 billion to help digitize small businesses in India

While many people are focusing on the negative impact of Amazon on small businesses and small retailers! Bezos lands in India and make a proposal! Amazon will invest 1Bln to help small businesses to digitize, appealing no? This is an interesting spin and will be interesting to see how this can evolve at a time where growing pressures & concerns are coming into some of the dominant players practices!

3. Google acquires Pointy, a startup to help brick-and-mortar retailers list products online, for $163M

Google announced multiple initiatives to grow it’s ecommerce presence and penetration, lastest most impactful was the entire “refresh” of Google Shopping last year. This acquisition of Pointy is interesting as it’s focusing on Brick&Mortar retailers transition to the world of Ecommerce & Omni-channel.

4. Amazon orders electric vans from Deutsche Post's StreetScooter

Amazon has ordered 40 electric vans from DHL StreetScooter unit for deliveries in the German city of Munich as part of the plan to be carbon neutral by 2040, the online retailer said on Wednesday. Amazon recently invested 500 Millions in Rivian and announced the purchase of 100K EV in North America, the sustainability for ecommerce urban logistics is not an option anymore, it’s a mandate!

5. National Retail Federation 2020: 6 Trends Are Driving Big Retail

Here are some of the key take away from NRF, my favorites and most important dimensions are #1 "Omnichannel is Back" & #3 "Experience is everything".

6. StartUp of the week: aCommerce

Thailand-based ecommerce enabler aCommerce today announced that it has raised US$15 million in funding from Indies Capital Partners. The company provides a full set of ecommerce technologies & solutions, including omni-channel retail, performance marketing, channel management, web store design and operations, content production, order fulfillment and warehousing, delivery and logistics, and localized customer care.

Enjoy, Cheers

Nabil