Top 4 Global Ecommerce Articles for the Week of July 25

???? to the +12 new subscribers that joined the newsletter over the last week, bringing us to 2804 and counting!

For those who are new here, every week(ish) I'll share various topics that I think are important for the modern leader in Ecommerce.

Every Monday, I'll try to share the articles that stood out to me that are worth a few minutes of your time to read.

Before we get into today’s other articles, I did want to point out our hugely impactful news. https://commerceiq.ai/now-for-450-retailers-your-all-in-one-tech-stack-for-retail-ecommerce/

We are so excited to welcome e.fundamentals into the CommerceIQ family. Deeply integrating e.fundamentals’s Digital Shelf Analytics for over 450 retailers in 41 countries with the intelligent automation of the CommerceIQ Retail Ecommerce Management Platform is a winning formula to drive profitability and market share for consumer brands. CommerceIQ now provides our customers retailer coverage and localized support across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC regions.

Now, let’s take a look at what else happened that you need to know for this coming week.

Article 1: Prime Day 2022: Highlights

Prime Day 2022 might have been two weeks ago but its results will continue to impact H2 2022 as suppliers prepare for the key holiday period. At CommerceIQ we track our 1P brand customers on Amazon in aggregate to better understand industry trends. Prime Day 2022 held some surprises. All data is taken from CommerceIQ customers on Amazon.

Discounts are on the rise again for Prime Day as discount levels rose 39% from their levels just before the retail holiday. As ad spend only rose 3.4x vs. the 4.1x lift it has last year, vendors appear content to shift some of their budgets back to discounts after years of bolstering ad spend. At the same time, out of stocks rose vs. last year for some expensive items. Nevertheless, the discount-centric tactics appear to have worked. The average brand could expect a higher OPS lift (2.8x) in 2022 vs. last year (2.5x). Outside of Prime Day, discount levels have still fallen over the past year by at least 6 percentage points.

These changes have implications for the back half of the year and holiday planning. Check out our upcoming webinar on July 28 to learn more: https://hubs.li/Q01gGy1d0

Article 2: Walmart employees describe chaotic, overcrowded backrooms…

Great piece from Ben Tobin at Insider that uncovers some of the chaos occurring in Walmart backrooms as employees struggle to process incoming freight. It’s a problem that compounds on itself. If employees do not have the time or space to properly tag incoming shipments, then Walmart’s automated inventory tracking system will simply order more. Elegant systems must be built with realistic points of failure in mind. The shopping frenzy of 2021 did not continue into 2022 for many categories. Towering stacks of boxes are the result. Nevertheless, this will likely be a scenario that Walmart can learn from and improve.

Demand forecasting needs to evolve. The past does not guarantee a similar future. They are too many competing factors, each rebounding in wildly different directions based on recent events. Whether online or in-store, supply chains need to be linked to data for as many relevant factors as possible to enable better prediction models. Regardless, streamlined operations need to consider points of failure as well. For instance, when a brand’s ecommerce inventory is not properly received, they should respond with a streamlined dispute resolution process to prevent even more problems.

Article 3: Target chases bigger e-commerce profits with new delivery hubs, fleet of drivers

Best-in-class ecommerce fulfillment is like a multi-faceted diamond. Each side is distinct, shining brilliantly but supporting the cohesion of the larger entity. In ecommerce, every facility and process must be clearly defined and streamlined. Target’s new sortation centers acknowledge this reality. Fulfillment centers excel in storing and packaging but cannot always create optimal delivery routes. Sortation centers fill that role for urban areas. Target has 6 sortation centers with plans for 9 in total by early next year.

Vendors need to keep pace with improvements of their own. This includes better inventory forecasting, better tools for handling errors and disputes, and better retail media capabilities. In short, vendors need a better retail ecommerce management platform. CommerceIQ can help.

Article 4: A US recession will also come to India’s tech hub

Sobering thoughts from Mint on the likelihood of a recession in India’s Bengaluru-centric tech industry. Growth is strong at the moment, but the industry’s health is heavily tied to US tech outsourcing. As US tech feels the impact of more expensive capital and a sharper focus on profitability, the well could dry up for their Indian counterparts. A profitability crunch in Bengaluru is already underway. The key element could depend on whether recessionary pressures in the US cause companies to increase automated cost-cutting measures that can be outsourced to India or if they decide to forego spending on such services altogether.