By Bart Mroz, SUMO Heavy Co-founder and CEO

A few weeks ago we brought on a new hire and found ourselves short of a chair. In our current space, we inherited all the furniture from the previous occupant, and most of the stuff was from IKEA…

The survey noted that consumers are searching for “responsible retail,” with 45% reporting they’d be more likely to shop at retailers that address social issues through their business practices. Half said they’d be willing to choose delivery options with a lower environmental impact such as slower shipping or in-store pickup.

Retailers have greatly improved their online stores in the past few years. User flows are streamlined. Designs are better tuned to tell the brand’s story. But for many online stores, site search is weak.

47% of the top Amazon.com sellers are based in the US, and 38% are based in China. Brooklyn, New York hosts the zip code with the most Amazon US-based sellers, and Shenzhen is home to a third of Chinese sellers on Amazon.

A great e-commerce site shouldn’t be complicated – in fact, it should be easy to navigate and offer buyers a transparent experience. Still, that doesn’t mean you should skimp on the features. These features will get you off to a strong start.

Salesforce drew on three years of data from 4,500 e-commerce sites to generate its forecast.

The future of commerce is sitting on your counter. That’s right—Amazon Alexa, the familiar voice assistant who tells you the weather forecast, will also help you purchase a new umbrella. So is voice shopping really all hype? Not even close.

Austin Davis, a 20 year old man who lives in a small Florida town, explains to Vice why he’s eaten nothing but mac and cheese for the past 17 years of his life.