Happy September! ✨🕺

As we begin a new month, let's take a look at some of the top retail and e-commerce stories from this week:

• ByondXR is revolutionizing the way consumers engage with luxury beauty companies online.
• Levi's utilizes AI to improve e-commerce delivery.
• Despite strong competition, Walmart is staying ahead of Amazon and Instacart in the online grocery market.
• Amazon has just announced a new storage service for sellers in order to improve their supply chain concerns.

Top Retail and E-commerce Stories

ByondXR: The Future of Luxury Beauty Brand Experiences

Luxury beauty brands, meet your new online store. ByondXR is an e-commerce platform that offers a realistic, three-dimensional virtual reality (VR) experience for users. What does this mean for the future of luxury beauty brands?

For starters, it means that brands will be able to offer a more immersive and interactive online shopping experience for customers. In addition, it opens up the possibility for brands to create virtual reality "stores" that can be visited by anyone, anywhere in the world.

This is a huge shift from the traditional way of doing things, and it's one that is sure to change the landscape of luxury beauty forever. Currently, ByondXR is creating virtual experiences for Shiseido, L’Oréal, Armani, YSL Beauty, and 40 other retailers.

AI for Your Jeans: Levi's Uses AI to Improve E-Commerce Delivery

AI-powered denim brand? Last week, Levi Strauss said it will use artificial intelligence throughout its fulfillment network to serve e-commerce customers better.

The denim company has created a technology called BOOST, which expands product searches to include stores and gives consumers more options if products are sold out at distribution centers. According to Louis DiCesari, global head of data, analytics and AI at Levi’s, the technology is designed to help choose the “best fulfillment option for both the consumer and our bottom line.” BOOST not only opens up more inventory to customers but also optimizes operations by reducing split shipments - all while fulfilling orders faster, said DiCesari in a recent release.

The Walmart Grocery Challenge: Walmart Leads Ahead of Amazon and Instacart

The grocery wars are heating up. And Walmart is ahead of the game. Walmart is the largest online grocer in the United States, but there is a close race for second place between Amazon and Instacart. Walmart will generate $38.72 billion in e-commerce sales this year, representing 27.6% of the online grocery market, according to new data from Insider Intelligence. This includes sales from Sam’s Club, its members-only wholesale division.

According to Blake Droesch, senior analyst at Insider Intelligence, Walmart is expected to greatly increase its lead over Amazon and Instacart in the next four years.

Instacart is competing fiercely with Amazon, according to Insider Intelligence, which projects that next year Amazon will reclaim its position as No. 2 after overtaking it in 2018. This year, Amazon's online grocery sales are expected to rise 16.5 percent to $29.49 billion, taking 21% of the market share. By the end of 2023, compared to Instacart's $35.19 billion, Amazon's online grocery sales are projected to be $35.46 billion.

The Amazon Corner

Supply Chain Nightmare?: Not With the New Amazon Seller Storage Service

Say goodbye to inventory management headaches! Amazon.com Inc said on Wednesday that it launched a new service to assist its merchants store massive stocks and reduce distribution costs to address supply chain problems.

In 2023, Amazon Warehousing & Distribution (AWD) will be available to sellers, allowing them to send products to any location, including wholesale clients or brick-and-mortar shops. The e-commerce platform also claimed that the pay-as-you-go service would assist sellers in significantly cutting logistics expenses without going into specifics.

A LITTLE MORE

• UPS preparing to increase rates for large shipments during holiday season.
• Walmart is inviting Canadian e-commerce companies to expand on Walmart's U.S. online marketplace
• The augmented reality market for retail will reach $61.3 billion by 2031, according to Allied Market Research.

FUN FACT

Almost 70% of mobile searches result in a purchase within an hour.

QUICK TIP

Try this. With the newfound popularity of influencer marketing comes the rise in livestream selling. In fact, 78% of businesses now use live commerce to deepen relationships with their audience members. Additionally, these companies report that conversion rates from livecommerce are up to ten times higher than traditional settings.