FedEx and Adobe are teaming up in a deal aimed at helping retailers meet skyrocketing eCommerce demands. While this may seem like an unlikely duo, FedEx’s logistics paired with Adobe’s tech could be the solution that actually gives Amazon a run for its money…maybe. 

Adobe is integrating FedEx’s recently acquired ShopRunner. Shoprunner offers accelerated delivery from 100 retailers such as Hudson’s Bay and Under Armor.

The collab will allow businesses that sell on Adobe’s platform to offer free two-day shipping and other services, like quick and easy returns. The partnership could also funnel more parcels through its large network. Adobe sellers who use FedEx as a carrier would also get access to data to help with logistics planning, like deciding which orders to send out first for the quickest and most optimized delivery. 

Anil Chakravarthy, executive vice president and general manager for Adobe’s digital experience business and world-wide field operations said their ultimate goal “is to really help merchants now plan for the future…instead of just reacting, as many of them had to do during the pandemic.” 

Adobe sellers should be able to download the FedEx extension in late 2021.

According to the “United States Retail Landscape and Market Planning Report 2021” from Edge by Ascential, Amazon, including its online marketplace of third-party sellers, will overtake Walmart to be the largest retailer in the U.S. by 2025. 

To the surprise of virtually no one, the leap in positions will be driven by consumers shifting most of their purchases to online sellers. 

For those of you interested in numbers: The study calculated that Amazon’s gross merchandise value will reach $631.6 billion by 2025, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14% between 2020 and 2025. Meanwhile, Walmart’s gross merchandise value is slated to rise to $523.3 billion by 2025, a CAGR of 3.9%. 

Retail Wire also points out that Amazon’s growth will largely be driven by third-party sellers, which currently make up just over half its sales. The report predicts that the retail giant’s marketplace will account for 66% of its total sales over the next four years.

If the rumors are true and Amazon does succeed in passing Walmart, it won’t be because they haven’t been paying attention. A self-assessment by Walmart under the name Project Glass concluded that the retailer was falling short, so strengthening their omnichannel reach has been important to them. Unfortunately, regardless of their efforts it seems as if Amazon will prevail after all. 

Facebook is scrambling (ok, maybe a little dramatic) to ensure the longevity of consumers purchasing products directly through their platform as they continue to ride the high of their pandemic earnings. 

Revenue for the most recent quarter came in at $26.17 billion, up 48% year on year, while net income picked up 94% to $9.5 billion, from $4.9 billion this time last year. According to Facebook, this revenue hike came off a 30% year-on-year increase in ad revenue that Facebook enjoyed during the first quarter of 2020. However, Facebook warned investors that this trend would likely ease off as 2021 progresses. 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also spent some time praising Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp’s efforts in building out their eCommerce legs over the last year. He also laid out plans for Facebook Shops and Instagram Shops, enabling brands to sell their products directly from the two popular social media platforms. He also announced Creator Shop, which allows Instagram influencers to sell products directly from their accounts.

However, the company should be keeping a keen eye on software changes that could deter, or accelerate its progress. Facebook believes that changes to the latest edition of iOS may make it more difficult for the company to personalize ads for iPhone and iPad users.

Ultimately, it could give Apple a leg up in promoting its competitive analogs to Facebook products like Messenger on their home devices as well as regulatory wrenches in the plan that could stifle its growth. 

In preparation for the assumed uptick in foot traffic at physical retail locations, Square has released a suite of inventory management tools for Square for Retail. 

New features like Easy Item Create, Quick Inventory Counting, and Smart Stock Alerts allow sellers to have a bit more control over their inventory management, while also improving its overall efficiency with better ways to create, count, and reorder inventory. 

Let’s keep the feature descriptions short n’ sweet. Easy Item Create lets merchants add to their product catalog and prepare items for sale. The Smart Alerts tool uses machine learning to pinpoint when an item may run out and automatically prompts merchants to reorder it. Finally, the Quick Inventory Counting tool helps sellers easily keep their stock counts accurate with simple barcode scanning.

Square also noted that these features are meant to help sellers streamline their inventory management now that e-commerce sales are crucial now more than ever.

The new features are part of an ongoing effort to win clientele and keep the company’s services consistent in order for customers to continue using them. After all, there are a gazillion hardware solutions and services on the market, so these product ecosystems have to have many legs, like an octopus amount of legs.

Today on In the Ring we have Steve Dennis, a strategic advisor and keynote speaker on retail innovation.

Steven is also podcast host and the best-selling author of Remarkable Retail: How to Win and Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption.

In this episode, Steve and SUMO Heavy CEO and Co-founder, Bart Mroz walk us through a plethora of topics like shifting consumer habits and spending, BOPIS, and Steve’s 8 Essentials of Remarkable Retail.

Listen on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.