Shopping trends are expanding as the pandemic's effect on e-commerce continues, forcing retailers to adapt their marketing strategies to meet new consumer expectations and demands, according to a new report. Consumer adoption of digital shopping is driving increased use of user-generated content, new private labels, and access to product sampling.

Commerce analysts do not see consumers shedding their newfound buying options in the wake of a post-pandemic marketplace. Concerns for health safety, social distancing, and remote working will remain priorities for many shoppers. Merchants who demonstrate that they are able to quickly get products to consumers, resolve issues with customer service, and provide fast delivery and returns will be the ones that thrive.

Retailers are finding new ways to retool their customer experiences to conform with the new contactless "everything" supply chain; and artificial intelligence and computer vision technologies are lending a notable hand. Out are the bulky metal lockers where customers had to open doors that many other people have come in contact with to retrieve their items staged from online purchases.

Online shoppers beware: a fast-selling marketplace of fake reviews is trying to lure you into buying products on major digital store sites and social media outlets. This latest review scam involves an under-wrap false review network operating among Amazon sellers. Trading in phony reviews may or not be legal, but such practices are clearly unethical and will have repercussions if discovered, warns Amazon.

The E-Commerce Times discussed with Steve Wiideman, president and CEO of Wiideman Consulting Group, the essentials of how to build an SEO strategy for 2021. Wiideman designed and teaches the Website Optimization and Strategic Search Engine Marketing online course for California State University Fullerton and the SEO Tools and Analytics course at University of California San Diego.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many investors began to hold their funds back and we're waiting to see how things unfold. But at the same time, crisis often precedes opportunity -- and while M&A activity was down overall last year, when you look at the data more closely you will see a flurry of activity in one sector: e-commerce.

Is your list of new business customers falling short due to issues with their rejected credit approvals? New User Missed Opportunity or "NUMO" is a growing problem for e-commerce vendors. It is caused by false payment declines based on a lack of access to current consumer data by the rating agencies. But you can fix this problem.

Jeff Bezos last week announced he will be stepping down from his role of CEO Amazon. Bezos is following Microsoft's lead and putting his cloud executive Andy Jassy in charge of the company. Given that Microsoft was exceedingly successful with putting Satya Nadella in the same role, it would seem that this would be a slam-dunk success. But the issue is that Amazon is not Microsoft.

At the start of 2020, it's doubtful that anyone would have guessed how much the pandemic would change almost everything. With that mindset, it almost seems ironic to make predictions. Still, some clear trends in B2B payments have emerged from the events of the past year that are likely to unfold over the next twelve months. Here are some payment automation trends to watch for this year.

Amazon gets a new chief executive this summer. Jeff Bezos plans to step down from that role and transition into a new job -- executive chair of Amazon. The chief of Amazon's cloud computing division, Andy Jassy, will become Amazon's new chief executive. Jassy served in that post in a temporary capacity along with another Amazon executive in recent years. The change will be effective in the third quarter, which starts in July.

Microsoft is set to step in with its Bing search engine should Google make good on its promise to cut service to Australia in response to a proposed law to make tech firms pay for news content produced by the country's media companies. Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he has spoken to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who is confident Bing could meet the needs of Australians should Google exit.

As the pandemic continues to keep shoppers out of brick-and-mortar stores, new shopping behaviors continue to include smartphones to nudge products into consumers' digital shopping carts. CRM Buyer discussed with Dennis Reno, SVP and head of customer experience at Cyara, how mobile CX is influencing e-commerce, and how these changes can help to improve the customer's overall experience.

Search-as-a-service company Algolia on Monday announced its acquisition of Google DNI-funded machine learning startup MorphL to fuel Algolia's new artificial intelligence offering. The company hopes the new service will eliminate barriers to AI implementation and help businesses drive website conversion and personalization.

Google sent a shock wave through the advertising and publishing industries last year when it announced it planned to scrap third-party tracking cookies, which are an important tool for online marketers. Not to worry, the company announced Monday. It has a viable alternative in the wings. "FLoC" will be available for public testing with the March release of Chrome.

While it was already underway prior to the pandemic, the worldwide shift to digital payments has been accelerated by the crisis. This new cashless concept and the related back-end changes by banks to adopt real-time payments are becoming increasingly popular; and have set into motion the potential for a ripple effect throughout the e-commerce ecosystem.

Live chat and conversational platform technologies have made significant advancements in recent years. Thanks to AI and machine learning, these implementations have gone beyond just being a customer support tool, to a crucial component of an e-commerce revenue engine. Here's what retailers need to know to get maximum conversions and satisfied customers from live chat tools in 2021 and beyond.

DuckDuckGo reached a significant milestone last week when it racked up more than 100 million searches in a single day. While still a paltry number compared to the more than five billion daily searches performed by Google, the milestone is a major one for the search engine that doesn't store any of its users' personal information, archive their search histories, or track their search activity.

Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the U.S. and worldwide. As the market grows -- and becomes more competitive -- coffee companies are coming up with more creative ways to get their products to online consumers. The E-Commerce Times recently spoke with coffee and e-commerce experts to get their views on what's involved in successful online coffee sales.

As pet owners increasingly opt to shop from home, pet-related companies are stepping up their game to grab a share of industry expenditures forecasted for 2020 to reach approximately $99 billion in the U.S. The E-Commerce Times spoke with various experts in the field of online pet product sales and services to get their take on trends in this market.

E-commerce is now at an all-time high, with global sales figures projected to reach $4.1 trillion in 2020, almost doubling since 2015. While the spectrum of global customers has broadened, so has the scope of competition. As the need for customer support grows, there is a golden opportunity for brands to capitalize on the changes fueled by the pandemic and emerge from the crisis with a newfound customer base.

Porch pirates were busier than ever in 2020, according to an annual survey by market research firm C+R Research. Forty-three percent of Americans said they had a package stolen in 2020, a seven point increase over 2019, when 36 percent revealed they'd been theft victims. The report also revealed that 47 percent of those surveyed filed police reports about their theft.

An intense knack for technology throughout middle school and high school where he repaired classmates' phones and gaming devices set the stage for entrepreneurial success for Adam Zinker, founder and CEO of The Perfect Part. That passion -- and a family loan of $4,000 seed money -- drove his technology logistics company over the last nine years to become the sixth-largest eBay company in North America.

Final rules governing unmanned aircraft, commonly known as drones, have been released by the Federal Aviation Administration. The move is expected to open the door for delivery of consumer packages by air. The rules establish minimum standards for safety so drones can fly over populated areas and at night under certain conditions.

Walmart has raised the bar for service by an online retailer with its announcement of free home pickup of customer returns. Called "Carrier Pickup by Fedex," the program allows items bought at Walmart's online store to be returned with a minimum of hassle by scheduling a home pickup from the store and printing a return label for the item.

Cosmetics companies traditionally have relied on in-person retail sales to attract new customers and maintain existing clientele. The pandemic, however, has upended the cosmetics industry, bringing new challenges as well as a host of opportunities for companies that are agile and creative enough to take advantage. The E-Commerce Times spoke with experts in cosmetic sales about trends in this dynamic and evolving industry.

Clickwrap transaction platforms, which serve to replace electronic signatures, are emerging as a valuable tool to help businesses navigate the increased volume of online transactions. Instead of signing, users click to check a box, or click on a button with a label such as 'I Agree' or 'Accept'. That action authorizes the included consent language.

During any holiday season, consumers have a tough time wrestling with each other for best-selling products, but now times have become even tougher, thanks to the proliferation of online "scalper" bots. These robot shoppers, unleashed by cybercriminals, emulate the activity of ticket scalpers in the real world.

Mobile shopping apps have in the midst of the pandemic become central to online retail operations, and they're clearly here to stay. The E-Commerce Times spoke with m-commerce specialists to find out what's behind the rapid growth of consumers shopping on mobile devices, what mobile shoppers require from shopping apps, and how retailers can provide a better experience for their customers who shop on mobile devices.

Libra, the digital currency announced by Facebook last year, is getting a new name. Libra will now be Diem. The new name will reenforce the currency project's independence, according to a statement released by the Libra Association, which is also changing its name. From now on it will be the Diem Association.

It should be prime time for shopping, but the pandemic has forced many consumers to tighten their purse strings. To help consumers -- and give e-tailers a heads up about better security -- the E-Commerce Times discussed holiday shopping issues with a panel of cybersecurity experts. They offered advice on how consumers can avoid buying counterfeit products; and analyses of how fake goods affect the broader retail market.