Walmart is asking hundreds of workers at five e-commerce fulfillment facilities to find jobs at other company locations within 90 days, according to a spokesperson. The affected facilities are in the United States.
The approximately 200 workers in Pedricktown, New Jersey, and hundreds more in Fort Worth, Texas; Chino, California; Davenport, Florida; and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania were laid off due to the reduction or elimination of evening and weekend shifts.
Walmart's recent layoffs may be a sign of further economic turmoil in the United States, with many economists predicting a possible recession this year.
Shopify and Google Cloud have announced a new integration that allows retailers using Shopify's enterprise retail solution to use Google-quality search capabilities and AI innovations.
Shopify merchants can now access Google Cloud's Discovery AI solutions through Commerce Components. This integration provides advanced search and browsing technologies to create more fluid and fruitful shopping experiences for customers.
The new integration between Shopify and Google Cloud provides AI-driven product discovery capabilities for enterprise brands, addressing real-world business challenges.
- Google Cloud Retail Search offers advanced query understanding to improve search results, even for broad and non-product queries, by matching product attributes with website content for fast and relevant product discovery.
- An AI-powered browse feature for e-commerce sites that uses machine learning to optimize the ordering of products based on historical data, improving accuracy, relevance, and sales likelihood.
- An AI-driven personalization capability that customizes search results and browsing experiences for customers on e-commerce websites. The AI uses customer behavior data, such as clicks, carts, and purchases, to determine shopper tastes and preferences.
- The advanced security and privacy practices that retailers can use to ensure their data is isolated and only used for relevant search results on their own properties.
The current holy month of Ramadan is expected to be a busy time for remittance and international money transfers, according to Ria Money Transfer's U.K. subsidiary.
According to Ria, remittance transactions to friends and family members in other countries increased by more than 16% during the 2022 holiday season, consistent with previous years' trends.
The Muslim population in the U.K., is about 4 million or nearly 7% of the total population, according to data from the Muslim Council of Britain.
A study by Toluna predicts a 33% increase in consumer shopping intentions in the UAE during Ramadan this year, compared to last year. The increase is expected in various sectors, including cosmetics, grocery shopping, entertainment, and travel.
The spending on gifts for Eid al-Fitr is expected to increase, with 39% of respondents planning to spend more money on gifts and nearly 50% intending to make the occasion more special this year, as most countries celebrate without lockdown restrictions for the first time in years.
A new report generated by the e-commerce acceleration platform MikMak provides insights on the top-performing social channels and retailers for brands targeting grocery shoppers. The report is titled the 2023 Grocery eCommerce Benchmarks and Insights Report.
A report by eMarketer, predicts that grocery e-commerce will reach a market value of $243 billion in the U.S. by 2025.
The grocery shoppers are most likely to make online purchases on Thursdays at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, compared to other e-commerce shopping that occurs on weekends and evenings.
The top purchases made by shoppers include a snack mix product, sliced cheese, and single-serve coffees. The average grocery cart contains 12.4 items.
