Top 4 Global Retail Ecommerce Articles for the Week of October 17

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

I want to kick off our articles here with the news that dominated the latter half of last week. This piece from CNBC gives a good overview of the Kroger-Albertsons merger, but there are a few additional points I would add.

First, I think the FTC is unlikely to block this deal. Grocery competition is hyperlocal by nature. You are not going to buy fresh produce shipped across the country in two days like you might buy furniture. Kroger and Albertson’s largely operate in different geographies so the combined entity will not compound its market share in many places where one or the other already exists. Rather it allows Kroger to enter new markets altogether. Where they do overlap, the FTC will likely force the sale of stores.

?Second, the acquisition could make the grocery market more competitive, not less. Kroger operates on a low-price, fast-volume model compared to Albertsons. Applying this model across the combined entity could mean lower prices at Albertsons’ banners, leading to both improved performance and happier shoppers.

?Finally, a Kroger-Albertsons merger would allow for a nuanced look at grocery shopping data across the nation, broken down by region. Grocery shopping is local and there are very few grocers that operate across the entire country. Walmart is one such retailer, and this new merger would come close to creating another one. This could mean that brands selling to Kroger or Albertsons could eventually have better tools to personalize their offer and understand shopper differences by region.

?Article 2:?The great post-covid online shopping bet was a costly delusion

Occasionally, articles like this one appear that state COVID had almost no impact on online sales long term. While I agree that forecasts for online sales growth made at the start of COVID turned out to be wildly optimistic, I would say that the pandemic still had long-lasting effects on ecommerce that should not be dismissed.

2020 and 2021 both saw huge leaps forward in investment in ecommerce fulfillment capacity and technology that never would have occurred had it not been for that temporary boost in online shopping. Better tech and capacity will likely lift ecommerce growth for years to come. Of course, it’s impossible to know what ecommerce growth what have been in 2025 had COVID never occurred. In addition, some of the online gains that occurred in grocery were permanent. It turns out grocery shopping is a chore for many, and it will be simplified when the option is available.

Article 3:?Adobe: online holiday spending will near $210B this year

?Adobe’s holiday forecasts for online sales have been released. It’s remarkable how grim they are. Online sales are only expected to grow 2.5% for the season, well below inflation. Shoppers are pulling back where they can even if rising prices are forcing them to spend more to get less. At the same time, discounts are likely to go up as shoppers have started to look for deals earlier than ever to match their budgets.

?The majority of these insights match our data on CommerceIQ customers on Amazon. Discounts have been near record lows for a year as demand has run hot, but they are beginning to reappear for some select retail holidays. I expect discounts will become more frequent if consumer spending slows. We are also starting to see demand fall off for some categories ahead of the holidays. The good news for retail ecommerce is that online growth is still likely to run hotter than store growth this holiday season.

Article 4:?’It’s just so easy, isn’t it?’ how buy now, pay later can leave Britons struggling with debt

Speaking of falling demand, I can’t help but think that the rise of Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) is indicative of consumers burning through their savings and looking for alternative means of financing their wants and needs whether in Briton or the US. This phenomenon is not sustainable, and the stories portrayed in this article are good anecdotes that show where we might be headed. The truth is that consumers are pulling back. Retailers like Walmart and several toy brands, in earnings calls and talks with investors, have announced that they are reducing their holiday guidance. For brands, efficiency, not growth, is the priority to better maintain profits in the face of uncertainty. This means actions like focusing ad spend on higher ROAS activities and optimizing as much of the routine business as possible to ensure no opportunity is lost.