by Bart Mroz, SUMO Heavy Co-founder/CEO

Why retailers that make the customer experience as easy, quick, and hassle-free as possible consistently win more business.

As usual, this year’s Mary Meeker report from Kleiner Perkins takes a far-reaching look at internet trends and statistics. A large chunk of the nearly 300-page report is devoted to e-commerce, offering insight into a variety of online retail trends, from growth and product search to online retail advertising and the role of social platforms driving online sales.

Pairing has the potential to create a seamless commerce interface.

The Magento acquisition heightens competition with Salesforce, which beat out Adobe for Demandware two years ago.

The General Data Protection Regulation from the European Union takes effect on May 25. The law is sweeping, with massive fines for noncompliance.

The staying power of buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) comes down to two simple facts: consumers are demanding it, and retailers need it. JDA Software’s 2017 Consumer Survey found that 50 percent of consumers had used BOPIS in the previous 12 months, a 43 percent increase over two years ago.

Amazon and Walmart are each increasing their share of traffic coming to online shopping websites. Amazon’s website has gobbled up 30.7% of traffic over the past year (up from 29.6%) and Walmart has taken 5.9% (up from 5.3%), according to a study of 100 shopping sites by digital market intelligence firm SimilarWeb.

Meditation app Calm provides what it calls “bedtime stories for grown-ups”.But it’s now added highlights from the GDPR legislation to its roster, narrated aloud by former BBC radio announcer Peter Jefferson, who is famous in the UK for his readings of the Shipping Forecast — a nightly maritime weather report that’s cherished by non-maritime listeners for its repetitive and ritual qualities.