#e-commerce

#e-commerce

There was no forever in store for Forever 21's US stores. The same goes for fellow bankrupt companies Joann Fabrics and Party City, which joined the fast-fashion brand in closing their brick-and-mortars over the past year. We experienced another slaughter for physical stores at large in 2025 as inflation and high operational costs ate away at profit margins and shoppers continued to purchase from their couches. Tween favorite Claire's, department stores Kohl's and Macy's, and discount retailer Big Lots were also victims.

The 38-year-old Denver resident gets makeup ideas from TikTok videos and other social media content, not salespeople at beauty counters. She uses an AI chatbot to get product recommendations that fit her budget and to see how a certain foundation or lipstick would look on her. When she buys, it's usually from Amazon. "I use Chat GPT as my personal beauty consultant," Kelsey said. "Department stores? I'll walk through one for the decor, but they've basically lost me unless I can get the same product-research experience there that I can get scrolling through my phone at home."

The 38-year-old Denver resident gets makeup ideas from TikTok videos and other social media content, not salespeople at beauty counters. She uses an AI chatbot to get product recommendations that fit her budget and to see how a certain foundation or lipstick would look on her. When she buys, it's usually from Amazon. I use Chat GPT as my personal beauty consultant, Kelsey said.

Affiliate marketing - a way to drive sales through links posted by creators or publishers - is expected to drive $216 billion in US e-commerce sales this year, according to data from EMARKETER. These links are a direct way to track the shopping that is actually inspired by influencers. ShopMy, a social commerce platform, enables creators to build shoppable landing pages and earn commissions from sales driven by their links on social media.

Most companies have one path to success. Amazon has many. When it comes to e-commerce, Amazon is without equal. The company is the undisputed heavyweight champion of digital retail, with gross merchandise volume (GMV) of $790 billion in 2024. Despite the gargantuan size of its business, sales continue to grow, up 10% year over year in the third quarter. Amazon has risen through the ranks to become the world's second-largest retailer, behind only Walmart.

Walmart's digital business exploded 27% in Q3, driven by store-fulfilled delivery, marketplace expansion, and aggressive investments in digital infrastructure. The company spent $18.6 billion on capital expenditures this year, much aimed at logistics and technology supporting same-day delivery and pickup. CFO John David Rainey emphasized "enhancing the digital customer experience" during the earnings call. Costco's e-commerce grew 13.6% in F4, solid but far slower than Walmart's pace.

In late October, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Atlas, a web browser with ChatGPT at its core. In Agent Mode, it can perform actions on your behalf, such as pulling together an online order. Elyse Betters Picaro, Senior Contributing Editor at ZDNET, tried it that day, successfully using it to place a same-day delivery order from Walmart. The experience was so positive that she then used it to buy Disney on Ice Tickets, which she said saved her some money and hassle.

Piles of folded sweaters and polo shirts cascaded into disorder, their tags boasting incremental markdowns that seemed to shout over one another. The escalator, unmaintained for close to a year, stood inert. Nervous-looking shoppers bouldered their way up its heavy corrugated steps in search of washrooms or the closest exit to the parking lot. All the beauty counters featured displays which had been denuded to East German levels of bare.