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The pandemic drove people to buy more online, and some of those buying habits are sticking

Mar 17, 2022
One retail category that remains popular: buying groceries online, something many people had not tried before the pandemic.
Online shopping has surged during the pandemic, according to data from Adobe, But inflation accounts for a significant portion of that growth.
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People are clothes shopping in person again, and small businesses want to be ready

Mar 14, 2022
In-store purchases of clothes and accessories rose 21.9% from last year. Small businesses stand to benefit if they can attract once-cautious shoppers.
Jill Lindsey said she received two federal loans totaling $86,000 to keep her eponymous Brooklyn boutique open during the pandemic.
Stephanie Hughes/Marketplace

For many retailers, business has never been better. The future? Uncertain.

Jan 13, 2022
Millions of Americans are still shopping like crazy. But retailers worry their voracious appetite won't last much longer.
Americans have been eager to shop in recent months but haven't been able to find everything they want. Fresh retail sales data will come out Friday.
Raul Ratje/AFP via Getty Images

South African luxury mall navigates the return to in-person shopping

Nov 26, 2021
Some stores in the complex didn't survive pandemic closures, but other tenants expanded or relocated.
Shoppers walk by the Nelson Mandela statue at Sandton City in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2010. When the pandemic began, all nonessential stores at the luxury shopping center were forced to close.
Gianluigi Guercia via Getty Images

Delta variant starting to alter consumer spending – except among unvaccinated

Aug 17, 2021
Many Americans who’ve gotten the shot are feeling anxious, but not so with the unvaccinated.  
People spend time at an ice skating rink in The Galleria mall on Aug. 03, 2021 in Houston, Texas.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Is shopping by livestream the next chapter of e-commerce?

Apr 15, 2021
A lot of stores, brands and internet titans expect livestreaming to soar this year. And they’re investing accordingly.
Many businesses are able to use livestreaming as an inexpensive and direct way to reach customers.
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Full retail recovery hinges on women getting back to work

Mar 5, 2021
Whether or not women recover economically from this pandemic is everybody’s problem.
More than half of the jobs lost during the pandemic have been lost by women.
Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Consumers may be ready to release their pent-up demand

Feb 25, 2021
As the pandemic retreats, Americans who can afford to spend on things they've been deprived of may start spending.
After months of shopping online, many Americans look forward to visiting brick-and-mortar stores.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Grocery shoppers are faster and more focused during the pandemic

Jan 5, 2021
Stores and manufacturers are slimming down product selection in response to shopper behavior.
Grocery shopping has become a get-in, get-out mission during COVID-19.
Karen Ducey/Getty Images

Retail sales fell 1.1% in November, biggest drop in 7 months

Dec 16, 2020
It's a sign Americans held back on spending during the start of the holiday shopping season.
Customers wear face masks while waiting in line to shop inside a Best Buy store on Black Friday in Hawthorne, Calif., on Nov. 27, 2020.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images