RetailTechNews rounds up some of the biggest stories in the European retail technology space, as well as news and developments in the US market, which influence the European retail sector. In this week’s edition: eMarketer releases US commerce forecast; ASOS pre-tax profits grew 145% YOY; Venmo rolls out across two millions US merchants on mobile web; Quill research shows human translations drive more positive impressions of retails; and Criteo unveils new products for its Commerce Marketing Ecosystem.

eMarketer releases US commerce forecast

eMarketer has released its first US commerce forecast that ranks, for the first time, the top US ecommerce retailers. The forecast shows that US retail ecommerce is expected to grow 15.8% in 2017 to reach a value of USD$452.76bn (£343bn), accounting for 9% of total retail sales in the market. When looking at the top 10 ecommerce retailers, with Amazon unsurprisingly claiming the top spot, the growth rate is forecast to be 27.3%.

Amazon’s is forecast to account for 43.5% of total US retail ecommerce sales, up more than five percentage points from the previous year. eBay takes the second spot, taking a paltry 6.8% of total ecommerce sales in comparison with Amazon, and down from the previous year’s 7.8% growth. Walmart, forecasted to achieve an ecommerce growth rate of 46.9%, higher than Amazon, will be responsible for 3.8% of total US retail ecommerce sales, with the top 10 combined expected to total 64% of all US retail ecommerce sales.
Both Walmart and Wayfair are expected to outpace Amazon’s online growth rate this year, with traditional retailers, alongside Walmart, such as Home Depot, Best Buy, and Macy’s appearing in the top 10 rankings; highlighting that traditional retailers aren’t relying purely on in-store sales as, quite frankly, they can’t afford to.

ASOS pre-tax profits grew 145% YOY

ASOS released its final results for the year up to 31 August 2017, stating a 145% YOY increase in pre-tax profits. Other notable results included a 34% increase in retail sales, with a 47% increase an international sales, and a 16% increase in UK retail sales. Total orders shipped equalled 49.6 million, representing a 30% YOY growth.

ASOS CEO, Nick Beighton, cited ramping up of investment to build an increasingly differentiated proposition as one of the reasons for growth, as well as an increased focused on technology development: “Our new agile technology platform is allowing us to accelerate our pace of innovation with great benefits for our customers, including new payment methods and additional language sites to come. The investments we are making will see us add 1,000 new heads and will lay the foundations for a c.60% increase in unit capacity and c.£4 billion of net sales.”

Venmo rolls out across two million US merchants on mobile web

PayPal-owned, US mobile payment app, Venmo has announced it will now allow its users to shop and make mobile purchases at two million merchants in the US, using the mobile web. Retailers such as Lululemon, Forever 21, and Footlocker, which accept PayPal payments, will now be able offer customers the option to pay via Venmo on sites accessed via the mobile web - something not available before, as Venmo was only accessible as a mobile app payment solution.

This new offering solidifies as one of the go-to online payment platforms, with the ability to be able to pay via Venmo making online purchases even easier for US consumers, via participating retailers.

Human translations drive more positive impressions of retailers

It may seem obvious, but in a world of globalisation and leveraging automated solutions, relying on humans to translate product descriptions on retail sites drives better engagement than investing in automated technology to complete the same tasks, according to new research from Quill.

Surveying 400 consumers in France, Germany, China and Japan, across the fashion, homeware, technology, and beauty verticals, Quill’s findings showed that, when pitting human translators against machine translations, human translations were more likely to make a consumer buy a product. Seventy-nine percent of respondents, in fact, chose the human translation over the machine equivalent, with 80% agreeing that human translations gave them a significantly more positive impression of the retailer. Note to online retailers: don’t put all your eggs in one AI-shaped basket just yet, not when it comes to localising product descriptions, in any case.

Criteo unveils new products for its Commerce Marketing Ecosystem

Commerce marketing technology company, Criteo, has announced two new solutions within its Commerce Marketing Ecosystem (CME): its network of retailers, brands, and publishers, centred on integrated martech and built-in machine learning capabilities for commerce, which was unveiled in August, Martech Advisor reports. The two new solutions, Criteo Audience Match BETA and Criteo Customer Acquisition BETA will enable ecommerce retailers to re-engage existing customers, as well as reach a new customer base, and attract and convert new customers with a significantly improved ROI.

The release comes before some high-profile promotions within the publicly listed company. Former CRO, Mollie Spillman, has been promoted to COO, with Jonathan Opdyke, co-founder of HookLogic, which Criteo acquired last year, now taking the position of CSO.