Inflation's cooldown continues

Author

Stephen Babcock
January 12, 2023

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The Salesforce numbers for the holiday season are in: Ecommerce sales grew 5% over 2021, as discount rates ticked up to 21% in the inflationary environment. Going a layer deeper, an influx of returns showed consumers were cautious heading into 2023, while continued use of BOPIS showed that physical and digital retail can complement each other.

The Current will be attending the 2023 NRF Big Show in New York on Jan. 16-17. Editor Stephen Babcock will be onsite at the Javits Center meeting with industry leaders, learning about the latest innovation and generally getting a read on what matters in commerce in 2023. Reach out to [email protected] to schedule a meeting, or say hello. See you at the Big Show.

Retail media meets CTV in this partnership announced at CES. Omnicom Media Group's audience data and Albertsons Media Collective’s shopper data will combine forces to offer targeting and measurement for streaming platform advertising, with ads purchased through The Trade Desk. The next generation of TV advertising will be powered by the tools that made digital marketing a force.

For the third time in a year, FedEx will cut back on Sunday delivery in March to focus mostly on high-population areas. The carrier has plenty of reasons – an ecommerce “reset,” cost-cutting and contractor relations, to name a few. But it’s also worth considering what customers want. In recent months, they’ve indicated a preference for being able to know exactly when a package will be delivered, rather than receiving an item as fast as possible. In this context, does 7-day delivery still make sense?

New this morning: The Consumer Price Index showed an inflation rate of 6.5% for December, extending a trend of deceleration to three months to end the year. In ecommerce, prices fell on an annual basis, but ticked up in December following deep Cyber Week discounts the previous month, Adobe reports.

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