Sucharita Kodali

Last weekend, Amazon informed its third-party sellers (which account for more than half of its unit sales) that they are no longer allowed to use FedEx’s Ground delivery service for Prime shipments. In its email announcement, Amazon noted that its reason is a decline in the delivery network’s performance and that it won’t lift the […]

Three ways in which consumer behavior has evolved in a fairly short period

2019 was a record-breaking year for post-Thanksgiving sales. Learn how retailers worked to attract customers on Cyber Monday — and what opportunities remain.

Last week, PayPal acquired a Los Angeles-based company called Honey for a whopping $4 billion. While it certainly wasn’t under the radar (PayPal issued a press release, posted a video, and hosted a conference call about it), the media barely (with a few rare exceptions) picked up the story in spite of the fact that […]

In light of Nike’s latest news that it will avoid doing business directly with Amazon, I’ll gloat just a little. It reinforces what Forrester has been saying for years, which is that brands in the digital age will need to own more of their destiny and be very mindful of the pitfalls associated with eCommerce. […]

VPs, Principal Analysts Sucharita Kodali and Julie Ask explain in this short video where mobile is headed.

Customers expect it — but it places a burden on retailers. Recent innovations may allow retailers, carriers, and customers all to benefit.

As eCommerce continues to grow, so do online returns. Digitally native startups are shifting shopper expectations with their customer-centric return processes, leading traditional retailers to rethink how they handle returns.

Some may see the surprise purchase of the storied department store as a sign of things to come. In fact, it may be more of a cautionary tale for retailers.

15 billion — that’s how many eCommerce orders were delivered last year to customers in the US. Not only are the costs of these shipments increasing, but many of those deliveries are inefficient and generate negative externalities for communities (think clogged roads, for starters). For my new research, “The US Last-Mile Landscape Today,” we interviewed […]

Has Amazon destroyed retail or does it help SMBs? We review the facts surrounding the new antitrust investigation.

Is ultrafast shipping really what retail customers want? Although Amazon's recent announcement indicates yes, the story isn't so simple.

This year’s State of Retailing Online report focuses on omnichannel fulfillment, personalization, and digital marketing.

With online sales representing over 20% of sales in most physical good categories and the ability to buy unauthorized goods from anywhere in the world, the gray market is more present than ever. However, brands are not monitoring their online goods, allowing for any good to be available for sale on the internet, including marketplaces. […]

Last week, IRI hosted its annual Growth Summit in Denver (where some hapless attendees were snowed in by an unfortunate blizzard on the second day). For anyone not familiar with IRI, it is one of the world’s largest analytics firms. Among a slew of other assets, it has proprietary data from checkout registers, which gives […]

This blog post is part of Forrester’s Holiday 2018 retail series. Online holiday shopping in the US is set to grow to $151 billion this year, up 14% from $133 billion in 2017. Total holiday sales will grow at a more conservative 1.7%. All told, we see approximately one-fifth of all US holiday shopping this […]

The barrier has never been lower for retail shoppers to compare offerings and try new companies. Superior customer experience (CX) helps foster loyalty, and at the end of the day, CX leaders grow revenue faster than CX laggards. However, we found that most retailers continue to struggle at delivering great experiences to their customers. Forrester […]

In digital transformation, there’s a fine line between fearlessness and foolishness. Bad decisions can have all the trappings of a bold new strategy: a costly acquisition suddenly pivoting to an unexpected new product offering that’s an ambitious new vision for the future. Similarly, when consumer media hypes a new business model that will “disrupt” an […]

Last week’s NRF Big Show at the Javits Center in New York City is the industry’s largest confab and its timing (as most retail fiscal years close) makes it a good prognosticator of which retail technologies companies will be investing in (or at least investigating) in the coming year.  After talking to retailers, exhibitors and […]