Bart Mroz, co-founder and CEO of SUMO Heavy, says, “Ethical concerns regarding privacy and user data have made consumers sceptical when it comes to making transactions via social channels or chatbots. The niche audience of consumers who have had positive experiences, however, signals a future increase in adoption as they become more aware of the benefits of social media shopping and conversational commerce.”

The Dash buttons failed because as hardware, they were just too limited. Compared to the Amazon website, the Dash button didn’t offer one of the best conveniences of online shopping: being able to easily compare prices and buy whatever’s cheapest. And while that’s great for something like Doritos, where imitators simply won’t cut it, it’s less useful for ordinary household goods like garbage bags, paper towels, or soap where brand names are less of a priority than price.

Instagram moved into e-commerce this month, partnering with retailers selling directly on its app. But its link to Facebook has some worried about user data.

The explosion of Amazon.com Inc.’s private-label products — batteries, baby wipes, jeans, tortilla chips, sofas — has prompted concern that the world’s biggest online retailer could use its clout to p

Ecommerce merchants know the value of email marketing. It typically provides the highest return on investment of any marketing channel. In a 2016 Econsultancy survey, 76 percent of companies reported that email offers either “excellent” or “good” ROI.

Alexa devices dominate, but higher Google Home NPS scores suggest it will have better word of mouth and could gain market share.