Quarantine gave Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown” a whole new meaning in February. And contrary to what ecommerce experts anticipated, there was a decrease in Valentine’s Day spending.

Luckily, one holiday doesn’t define how the rest of the year will be for ecommerce. In fact, Shopify has seen a huge increase in consumer activity since more small businesses are able to migrate online.

We’re also expecting a year of online shopping advancements including sustainable shipping, extended fulfillment options, and more. Continue reading for more industry news and recent ecommerce happenings in this month’s edition of Ecommerce Lately!

Bezos Says Goodbye to Amazon

Amazon CEO and one of the world’s richest entrepreneurs, Jeff Bezos, announced his departure from Amazon in early February. Instead of running the largest ecommerce marketplace, he’ll be taking a seat as one of its executive chairmen. Bezos is being replaced by Andy Jassy, who’s heading Amazon’s cloud computing business. Before that position, Jassy helped develop Amazon Web Services so he has plenty of experience with ecommerce. What do you think is in store for Amazon with this new captain?

Ecommerce Becoming More Sustainable

Nate Faust, co-founder of Jet, has reimagined ecommerce shipping with his new startup, Olive. Instead of sending shoppers several individual boxes filled with a single item, Olive is consolidating this process by sending a reusable box filled with several products purchased that week. Not only does this cut down on waste, but it also makes shipping more convenient for consumers. Olive estimates that “doubling the number of items in a delivery reduces the per-item carbon footprint by 30%.” Just another example of how ecommerce is evolving.

Amazon Acquires Seller-Focused Ecommerce Platform

Amazon has officially acquired Selz, an ecommerce platform focused on assisting small businesses with multichannel selling. The 7-year-old company states that its services help merchants wield the same features larger businesses use. Individual tools that typically manage aspects like payments, returns, promotions, and fulfillment are all found in the Selz platform. This acquisition comes just as Shopify closes the gap on Amazon’s 2020 third-party sales.

Shopify Fulfillment Wins the Holidays

As we stated above, Shopify has recently been a force to be reckoned with in the ecommerce industry. The company reported record-breaking numbers for 2020, stating that consumers spent a total of $120 billion on its platform. That’s over 40% of Amazon’s third-party sales! In addition, Shopify’s US-based fulfillment network was able to handle the recent holiday rush with ease. The company plans to continue improving its ecommerce fulfillment operation, and we’re excited to see what’s next.

QVC for Small Businesses

Shoppable television has been a popular marketing tool for years. Ecommerce companies in Asia have found success using this medium, and even Amazon introduced its QVC-esque live stream during Prime Day. Tech companies anticipate this trend to gain even more traction, which is why VERB, an emerging leader in interactive video and marketing tools, is offering its live streaming capabilities free for 30 days to US small businesses. With the VERB app, SMBs can host engaging live stream sessions with real-time chat and interactive purchasing options. Time to call your hand-modeling uncle to help promote your products live!

Shopify has proven that the world doesn’t revolve around Amazon. You can find ecommerce success everywhere. All it takes is thinking outside the box, kinda like Olive.

Every month we’re bringing you the most significant news and latest industry happenings, and you can check out past Ecommerce Lately articles if you’re ever looking for inspiration!

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This article is syndicated from where it was originally published on the ecomdash blog.

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