Sales via Target’s same-day fulfillment services grew 45% in fiscal 2021. Overall digital sales grew 20.8% for the year and 9.2% in Q4.

Target Corp.’s digital sales grew 20.8% for the fiscal year ended January 29 and 9.2% in fiscal Q4 of fiscal 2021, up from comparable periods the year before, the retailer reported.

Contributing to the retailer’s digital growth increase was a 45% year-over-year growth in sales made via the retail chain’s same-day omnichannel services, which includes in-store pickup, same-day delivery via Target’s Shipt service and curbside pickup, dubbed Drive Up by Target. That growth was on top of 235% year-over-year growth in same-day services in fiscal 2020.

Drive Up was its fastest-growing same-day service. Sales fulfilled via Drive Up grew more than 70% in its 2021 fiscal year, on top of a 600% increase in 2020, Target reported. For Q4, digital sales represented 21.8% of total sales, down slightly from 22.1% for the year-ago quarter.

Target says digital sales represented 18.9% of its $106.01 billion in total revenue for the year, up from 17.9% for the previous fiscal year. For the quarter, digital sales represented 21.8% of its $31.00 billion in total revenue, down slightly from 22.1% for the year-ago quarter.

During a March 1 meeting with analysts, Target CEO Brian Cornell said Target believes stores are vital to growing its digital business.

“The way we run our stores is the secret to why digital is now 19% of sales,” Cornell said. “So, as we look at the next five years, we are going to continue to build on our strengths. Inflation and the war in Ukraine adds more uncertainty about the state of the economy, higher prices across the country, supply-chain constraints, as consumers continue grappling with the effects of COVID-19.

Target currently has 40 million customers who shop across sales channels. Omnichannel guests spend four times as much as stores-only guests and digital-only guests.

B2B marketplaces are becoming part of mainstream ecommerce. Collective sales on them grew 130% year over year in 2021 to $56 billion, according to an estimate by Digital Commerce 360.

Marketplaces have been in existence for more than 20 years, but the commercial and vertical marketplace platforms that bring together groups of buyers and sellers in a digital sales channel have played only a minor role in ecommerce—until now.

As the global COVID-19 pandemic marches into its third year and continues to produce major supply chain trouble for many manufacturers, distributors, and others, more organizations are latching on to marketplaces to buy and sell goods and services.

Today, B2B marketplaces, driven by the dominating presence of Amazon Business and the proliferation of scores of marketplaces springing up to serve numerous vertical markets from healthcare and automotive to chemicals and agriculture, are part of the mainstream of ecommerce.  To say more, B2B marketplaces are red hot and getting hotter.

B2B marketplaces also are the fastest-growing digital sales channel. For 2021, Digital Commerce 360 projects that the collective sales on B2B marketplaces grew 130% and totaled $56.0 billion, compared with a projected $24.34 billion in 2020. Last year, B2B marketplaces sales grew 7.3 times faster than total B2B ecommerce sales.

Market players

Amazon Business remains the dominant force in driving B2B marketplace sales higher and is moving quickly to become a more dominant company in B2B ecommerce.

Amazon Business could generate $31 billion in gross merchandise volume this year, and accelerate to as high as $83 billion as soon as 2025. Today, Amazon Business accounts for about 1.9% of U.S. B2B ecommerce sales which could amount to 10% by 2025. Last year, the gross merchandise volume on Amazon Business represented 55.4% of all B2B marketplace sales of $56.0 billion.

But even with the big shadow cast by Amazon Business, vertical marketplaces continue to proliferate and attract serious money from Wall Street investors.

For instance, Xometry, which raised more than $300 million in an initial public offering of stock in July 2021 is ready for mammoth growth by acquiring for $300 million the B2B marketplace company Thomas, which operates Thomasnet.com with more than 1.3 million registered users. Thomas’s client base includes such organizations as manufacturers General Electric Co., Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, and Eaton Corp.; distributor W.W. Grainger Inc.; the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and the U.S. departments of defense, transportation, and homeland security. Thomasnet hosts more than 500,000 commercial and industrial sellers.

Xometry and Thomas share a common mission of championing the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry, one of the largest sectors of the global economy and the foundation for innovation everywhere. Thomas will help Xometry “introduce new services, cross-sell to our combined base and expand our suite of products, particularly in fintech and digital marketing.”

Another example is Bay Supply, an industrial distributor from Farmingdale, New York, selling a wide array of fasteners to big and small companies since 1961. The company is rolling out a new marketplace on BaySupply.com to bring together buyers and sellers in rather fragmented and outdated fastener industry.

Sourcing fasteners requires an incredible amount of time and research online, and the current process just doesn’t make sense for anyone in the supply chain anymore.

The marketplace was designed and launched in conjunction with McFadyen Digital, an ecommerce and marketplace consulting firm. The marketplace was a new extension of Bay Supply’s Magento ecommerce platform. Bay Supply will collect 9% of each completed transaction on the marketplace.

The timing is right to launch a B2B marketplace and there are companies uniquely positioned to do so.

Payment methods are an integral component to the success of ecommerce businesses. Knowing which payment methods are preferred by customers can increase conversion for online stores. Below is a list of the current trends and most popular methods in Europe made by Genome, a Lithuania-based financial platform.

The payments industry is always moving forward, and the pandemic itself boosted payments trends. Businesses had to adapt and move online when the lockdowns hit across nations in 2020.

The trends are electronic payments becoming more common, an increase in mobile payments and digital wallets use, the implementation of contactless payments in non-retail settings. In countries where cash-on-delivery remained popular, customers had to use payment terminals the delivery agents bring or order delivery to lockers to avoid using physical money.

Ecommerce payment methods on the rise

Financial services turn more digital day-by-day, allowing for quicker, more user-friendly features for customers and new players to arise. In Europe, the Payment Services Directive Two (PSD2) implementation contributed to this significantly. The Directive prompted the adoption of Online Banking tools and strengthened online shopping security. With these, clients can now utilize third-party providers for more convenient and safe banking services.

For merchants, this can be an efficient way of running their business, as companies offer the tools necessary for accepting payments across Europe in different currencies. All the major payment methods are available within one financial system. That way, the ecommerce business doesn’t need to connect each of them separately, connecting with different acquirers in search of more options.

Current popular payment methods in Europe

It is expected that more third-party payment services will appear after PSD2 enabled the Payment Initiation Services (PIS) to simplify electronic transactions.

UK. Customers from Great Britain still prefer using debit and credit cards when making online payments as 69% of adults own credit cards. Ecommerce merchants also push cards as the payment methods of choice hard: 99% of them offer clients to use either Visa or Mastercard. Over 60% accept American Express, too. The usage of digital wallets has also grown in popularity recently. Digital wallets are even predicted to rival cards on the payment methods market in the future. For now, the most common options are PayPal, Google Pay.

Germany. Open invoices are prevalent, its popularity is only expected to increase to 35% by 2023. Companies that sell online also frequently offer clients to pay with Visa, Mastercard, the cash in advance option (66%), digital wallets, and Sofort payment service.

Spain. Debit and credit cards remain the payment method of choice for most of the population in Spain as well, although digital wallets come in second. It is expected that by 2023 the cards’ popularity will start decreasing, with digital wallets and bank transfers starting to take over. Among notable digital wallets are PayPal and Apple Pay, as well as local options BBVA Wallet and CaixaBank Wallet.

France. Cards dominate the French online payment methods market. Customers often use the national Carte Bleue. Other card types are less popular, but still there, like American Express and Visa. Digital wallets are mainly utilized in mobile commerce. Among popular options are PayPal, Paylib, Lydia, Amazon Pay.

Italy. Credit/debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, local CartaSi) and digital wallets (PayPal) share the top of the rating. Before the pandemic, Italians used cash pretty often, but now they have to use a more digital approach. Cash on delivery ecommerce payment method stil features on the country’s websites. Bank transfers are forecasted to become more common for online shopping in 2 years.

Romania. It is one of the countries where the pandemic had a massive effect on cash usage. The number of people paying physical money decreased from 45% to 21%. Meanwhile, the popularity of contactless cards reached 59%. Prepaid cards are the most common ecommerce payment method, with mobile payments following quite behind, but in the second place nonetheless. Cash-on-delivery remains one of the popular payment methods, while residents of the above mentioned countries don’t use it as eagerly.

The Netherlands. Most customers prefer the local online payment solution iDeal, which has spread all over the country in recent years. Digital wallets and cards take second place – Mastercard, Visa, and PayPal are people’s favorites. The Netherlands is very diverse when it comes to the type of ecommerce payment methods. Direct bank payments, invoices, post-payment options (Klarna, AfterPay), and cash on delivery are available.

Poland. Direct bank transfers via Przelewy24, BLIK, PayU are what multiple customers from Poland choose when shopping online. Debit and cards (Mastercard, Visa) are less favorable. Digital wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and a local YetiPay are a bit less common, but prevalent nonetheless. As in the case of Romania, cash-on-delivery remains one of the options people tend to come back to. Online payment methods such as Paybynet and BLIK have their demographic here too.

Sweden. The Swedes are open to multiple ecommerce payment methods. It’s Klarna BNPL, of course, followed by invoices and cards (Visa, Mastercard, Eurocard). And overall, online shopping is extremely common in the country, some of the relevant payment methods are Trustly, Swish, Tink, Qliro, Neteller, Skrill, Klarna, etc.

Finland. Here the survey data shows various results as well. All the main options are used commonly: bank transfers, digital wallets, and cards. Some of the main payment methods used are Trustly, Klarna, Zimpler, and MobilePay. The number of online payments made via bank transfers is expected to only increase by 2023, not without the help of local Verkkopankki.

SkillSetz, an online marketplace that connects buyers and sellers of business and technology services, expects to grow its number of service providers by more than tenfold over the next few months, according to their CEO Mike McCarrick.

SkillSetz, an Illinois-based software start-up specializing in matching consultants, technology professionals and other self-employed service providers with companies looking for help, is making a name for itself in a crowded field. The team’s target is $100 million in project work in 2022.

Matt McCarrick founded SkillSetz in 2018 and launched the online marketplace in January 2021. So far they have three full-time employees and 22 subcontractors, as well as 40 service providers as customers but McCarrick predicts the company will have 500 to 600 by March as well as “a couple thousand” buyers.

SkillSetz has also attracted investment from a bigger company in the same industry, MBO Partners Inc. What attracted MBO to SkillSetz was among other things the open architecture, “streamlined approach” of its system, and SkillSetz’s ability to execute development really fast.

Founded in 1996, MBO Partners says it has served 60,000 independent professionals and 4,000 companies.

There is no lack of platform providers aiming to match independent professionals with organizations that might want their services, including Catalant, Upwork, and Fiverr.

What makes SkillSetz different, according to McCarrick, is that it takes cues from the procurement sector on the one hand and people-oriented services such as the LinkedIn social network on the other. Most competitors, he adds, aim for serving “less-skilled rather than higher-skilled clients.”

Besides a B2B marketplace for service buyers, SkillSetz provides ecommerce storefronts for service providers, and enables direct communication and collaboration between buyers and sellers. Its system manages workflows and generates automated work orders, invoices, receipts, payments, and handles tax and regulatory compliance.

Service buyers typically pay fees starting at $2,500 a month for a basic account, while SkillSetz takes a 5% cut of payments to providers.

Live shopping in Europe is becoming more and more popular. This trend started in China and the rest of Southeast Asia, but now consumers in Europe are increasingly watching live shopping events to get inspired to buy some clothes and other fashion items.

Live shopping is hot, especially in China. There, on average 50,000 livestreams are held daily with approximately 260 million viewers. Forecasts from Coresight Research show that live shopping will generate sales of over 250 billion euros this year alone, and the trend is rising.

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Live shopping is basically nothing more than traditional teleshopping.

Think of home shopping television stations such as QVC (US, UK, Germany, Japan, Italy, China), TJC (UK), Tel Sell (the Netherlands) or Tvins (Scandinavia).

With live shopping, not only the medium is different, customers are also more involved as they can interact with a brand via chat or other on-screen functionalities.

According to a study by Arvato Supply Chain Solutions, more and more consumers in Europe have begun to explore virtual shopping events.

Now, 70 percent of European customers answered favorably when asked if they would be open to live shopping. But while in Southeast Asia the majority of live shopping customers are young millennials, those interested in Europe are mostly between the ages of 32 to 43.

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About one in five brands analyzed started using live shopping as a sales channel since summer last year.

Now, more than one in three fashion and beauty brands have offered at least one live shopping event. Beauty companies rely on regular livestreams, whereas fashion companies offer occasional events. Both branches clearly prefer the integration of live shopping into their own webshops but advertise events on social media channels.

Last year, the use of shopping apps increased by almost 50 percent. Brands and online shops can of course use this development to connect directly with their customers via app-based live shopping events.

It’s also possible to organize live shopping through social media, but Facebook Live for example has not yet been used by the brands in the Arvato study. About 70 percent of live shopping events are currently held on brands’ and retailers’ own websites.

Website builder Wix has acquired dropshipping platform Modalyst. With this acquisition, Wix wants to offer its own ecommerce supplier marketplace as well as an integrated dropshipping platform for white-label product fulfillment.

Wix: ‘Dropshipping marketplaces have been a game-changer’

In the press release, Wix says the boom in ecommerce shows the importance for online merchants to expand their inventory and efficiently fulfill orders. “Dropshipping marketplaces have been a game-changer for both suppliers and retailers and is evident in the success of the existing partnership between Wix and Modalyst through the Wix App Market.”

According to its data, Wix merchants that add dropshipping products saw their average order value increase by 40 percent and sales revenue by 79 percent within the first four months.

Wix customers can connect their online store to the Modalyst marketplace which features thousands of suppliers, manufacturers and wholesalers. Here, they get access to products spanning name brands, trending items and independent labels with the option to white-label products with their own branding.

How the Wix-Modalyst integration works

When connected, merchants can import the desired products directly to their online store. These products include details and image options from the supplier, which continually update with the suppliers’ pricing and inventory. When a private customer completes a purchase, the order will be packaged and fulfilled by the supplier and can be branded for a white-label solutions. The merchants can see the fulfillment status of each order through the Wix dashboard.

Modalyst, founded in 2012, is no stranger to Wix. The solution is one of the most successful ecommerce apps in the Wix App Market and since last year, Modalyst is a portfolio company of Wix Capital.

During the lockdowns of last year, 96 percent of consumers in Europe shopped online. That’s up from 60 percent one year earlier.

Three in four European consumers (74 percent) say they will stick to their pandemic online shopping levels, meaning they won’t reduce their ecommerce activities now they can shop offline again. So it looks like the shift to ecommerce is here to stay.

According to ‘the New State of Retail‘, a report from Checkout.com, among over 10,000 consumers and 500 online retailers, 43 percent of retailers said they weren’t prepared for last year’s surge in cross-border payments across Europe. They didn’t have the necessary payment methods in place to capture the demand from new markets within Europe. This resulted in lost revenue.

At the same time, 80 percent of consumers expect to pay using new payment methods such as Buy Now Pay Later, crypto, and digital wallets. And 30 percent say they now actively want to try new payment methods based on their digital payment experiences last year. One in eight consumers used a new digital payment method for the first time.

The report also takes a look at opportunities for online retailers. Laser-localized payments should lead to an optimized revenue, but there are still some localization performance pain points.

74 percent of online retailers don’t offer all payment pages in the local language. And two in three don’t offer local payment methods in every country they serve.

And 83 percent of ecommerce merchants are without direct access to a local acquirer in every key market that they operate within. “This can negatively impact approval rates”, the authors suggest.

The B2B industry has been watching for years how the B2C industry digitized and adapted its websites to the needs of the consumer. Now it’s time for the B2B sector to invest and boost their revenue by being present online, and in a way their customers are already used to.

Copperberg and Intershop have analyzed the current state of ecommerce in manufacturing in terms of local effectiveness, product complexity, ecommerce platforms, and future investments. Below are some interesting insights.

Covid-19 boosted ecommerce, but the changed buying behavior is a stronger growth driver.

B2B buyers, similar to their B2C counterparts, have advanced online-first expectations. And even though more and more international sales interactions take place through online channels, customers still have to navigate the complex B2B buying process. With almost two-thirds of all B2B purchasing decisions being made on digital channels, many manufacturers need to adapt to this and get their websites ready for B2B ecommerce.

Not all merchants are used to sell online and thus compete effectively. The Covid-19 outbreak has led to more companies being forced to adapt, but this process of adaptation to ecommerce is still ongoing for many.

A potential drawback is the existence of siloed sales- and service channels. Managing digital, direct, and indirect sales separately will negatively impact buyer-seller interactions.

Even before the pandemic, manufacturers were focused on the online transition. In a survey report from 2018, about 80 percent of B2B decision-makers said that if their organization didn’t start with ecommerce then, they would be going out of business in five years’ time.

In reality, not much has changed since 2018, for the companies’ research in 2020 proved that most manufacturers are not willing or ready (yet!) to tap into the full potential of the digital after-sales business.

17 percent of professionals have yet to expand into ecommerce, while the majority already has a global ecommerce strategy in place, be it partially (35 percent) or entirely implemented (31 percent).

Manufacturers are largely focused on investing in technology within the next twelve months, citing ecommerce solutions (67 percent), tools for back-end integrations (54 percent), digital marketing tools (51 percent), digital self-services (49 percent), AI/machine learning (44 percent) and customer portals (43 percent) as the way to achieving their online goals.

The report thinks quick and efficient buying journeys, such as provided by Amazon Business for example, have reshaped the expectations of B2B buyers. These examples have also shortened the distance between customers and suppliers. But firms are often under severe budget pressure.

Almost half of respondents react to this by not just investing, but even to increase their budget for digital investments this year by 10 percent or more. And one in six industry players want to reach their online goals with a 1 to 9 percent increase in budget investments.

Many manufacturers predict a 25 percent increase in online sales in the next two years. And many industry players want to lead the path to innovation (instead of just following it). More than 60 percent have a strong ambition to take over ecommerce leadership in their respective markets.

The report shows that 10 percent of surveyed professionals generate over 90 percent of their global product revenue through online sales. A similar percentage generate more than 51 percent of their revenue by selling digitally. A significant 47 percent, however, see no more than 10 percent of their revenue result from ecommerce.

What are the challenging obstacles to realizing ecommerce ambitions?

Popular answers to this question are the immaturity of customers (40 percent) and the lack of digital skills and knowledge (33 percent).

There’s also the choice between central efficiency and local effectiveness. Centralized ecommerce and decentralized ecommerce both have their pros and cons. But the data shows that the 39 percent of respondents that manage their global ecommerce activities using a central platform and marketing approach, reach up to 25 percent in online revenue.

However, the 36 percent that use a central platform combined with local marketing, alongside the 14 percent that use a local platform and marketing approach, reach between 25 and over 90 percent in online revenue. Still, centralized ecommerce is the most common approach, according to Copperberg and Intershop. Stability is preferred amid global economic uncertainties.

The authors claim that a modern ecommerce platform should provide at least 80 percent of the global requirements. In addition, there are the business processes that are specific to your company but are mapped in all national organizations. That’s about 15 percent. The remaining 5 percent is what makes each online shop special in each country – functions, user journey, or third-party applications.

To successfully run ecommerce in a new country, the web content needs to be in the local language. This improves conversion and search engine ranking.

The report “The State of International E-Commerce in Manufacturing“ is very extensive and also goes into great detail about the best practices for a local approach, the types of products sold online, how to sell complex products, the challenges of homegrown ecommerce solutions, and much more. Download the report  for free to get all these insights.

A report released Tuesday by Transmit Security, an access and identity management company, derived from a survey of 600 U.S-based consumers 18 to 54 years old,Isays that online businesses are losing potential customers and substantial amounts of revenue because they’re dependent on traditional password systems and outdated customer authentication models.

Lost customers and revenues are caused by password sharing and friction created at websites by onerous authentication procedures.

Half of the responding consumers admitted sharing a password to at least one of their accounts; and 41 percent acknowledged they share their passwords often.

There are obvious losses of revenue from password sharing for subscription services, but there is a secondary impact on data collection. When multiple users are sharing an account, it dilutes the data and makes it less valuable.

If accounts are being shared by multiple users, service providers are less likely to accurately monitor usage and are unable to correctly personalize their offerings. Therefore, their user experiences can’t be personalized to meet the expectations of their users.

There are security concerns for a business as well.

If you’re sharing passwords, it’s difficult for the business to understand who they’re talking to or doing business with, isn’t it?  It makes it difficult to identify if someone is a true authorized user or somebody who has compromised the credentials.

If 65 percent of users reuse the same password across multiple accounts, the report noted, once users share that one password with someone else they are essentially handing over access to multiple accounts they own.

What is more, traditional password systems are having a negative impact on the shopping experience of many consumers.

According to the survey, two-thirds of users (66 percent) will leave a website if the registration process is too complex.

Nine out of 10 consumers (87.5 percent) told surveyors they’d been locked out of an online account after too many failed login attempts. 92 percent of users leave a website instead of recovering or resetting their login credentials.

Customers are dropping out of transaction processes — or failing to use a site at all — due to overly complicated, and oftentimes error-ridden password systems.

These horrible customer experiences are costing businesses an unimaginable amount of money.

The situation has gotten worse because of the number of digital applications and the number of devices using those applications.

Websites are also putting more restrictions on password selection, making it harder for users to come up with passwords they can remember.

Consumers want a frictionless, fast and easy online experience. Passwords are one of the leading reasons for cart abandonment.

Besides, 2FA and Captcha are indeed a source for dissatisfaction, as they add stress to the login and sign-up processes.

Eliminating passwords is a grand goal but it’s still a distant one at this stage.

A more pragmatic approach is to reduce abuse of passwords which are leaked to ensure that those passwords are only ever used alongside a second independent factor.