Online Shopping

More Brits prefer online shopping since pandemic

By Keisha P. Crabtree 15 hours ago

FILE PHOTO: A man looks at his phone next to a shut down store, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London, Britain October 13, 2020. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

LONDON (Reuters) – About 70% of Britons say buying online and on mobile phones have become their preferred shopping methods, up from less than half prior to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a study by personal finance startup Credit Karma.

The study, which has not been previously reported, surveyed 1,034 adults in the UK in July to gauge how digital spending and banking habits have changed since COVID-19 restrictions began.

More than half of respondents said their online shopping had increased since the pandemic’s start, and of those, more than a third said their finances had taken a hit as a consequence.

“Healthy consumer spending, online or otherwise, is generally a sign of a healthy economy, which can be great

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Walmart deliveries arrive via autonomous Ford cars

By Keisha P. Crabtree 3 days ago

For some Walmart customers, online shopping will soon come with an autonomous twist.

The retailer will be partnering with Ford and its self-driving unit, Argo AI, to drop off deliveries to customers’ homes in Miami, Austin, and Washington, D.C.

Argo AI has been testing its autonomous vehicles in those cities already, but in the coming months it’ll drop off groceries and other supplies customers buy through the Walmart app or website. Autonomous delivery pricing will be the same as Walmart’s normal delivery fees.

Instead of the usual delivery method in a human-powered vehicle, items will be transported in a self-driving car (with a safety driver up front still). Customers will retrieve bags from the car once it arrives.

The car is noticeably marked as autonomous, if the sensors and equipment didn’t give it away.

An initial service area in each city will kick off later this year, with plans to

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Australian online retailers still playing catch up from Australia Post’s parcel pause

By Keisha P. Crabtree 5 days ago

Australian retailers are continuing to bear the brunt of parcel delivery delays, a week after Australia Post temporarily halted parcel collections from online retailers so it could clear out its delivery backlog.

At the start of the month, Australia Post paused parcel collections from online retailers in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, and Victoria from 7am, 4 September 201 to 7am, 7 September 2021.

The company blamed the backlog on a culmination of current COVID-19 restrictions, shortage of staff, and increasing volumes of online orders.

An Australia Post spokesperson told ZDNet the three-day pause helped eased parcel congestion.

“The pause — which was just on collections for ecommerce merchants in NSW, VIC and ACT for three days — has assisted in managing the congestion in our network and has ensured our volumes are coming down to a safe and manageable level,” the spokesperson said.

“Deliveries continued over the

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We are the online shopping assistant for customers: Vaibhav Lall, founder, Khojdeal

By Keisha P. Crabtree 7 days ago



Vanisha Mittal smiling for the camera: Vaibhav Lall, founder, Khojdeal


© Provided by The Financial Express
Vaibhav Lall, founder, Khojdeal

Founded in 2016 by Vaibhav Lall and his wife Vanya Gambhir as a deal discovery platform for the best Indian and international brands, Khojdeal has evolved to become an e-commerce enabler that is helping brands drive sales and augment their digital footprint. “How we do this is not just by curating all the best deals from more than 1500 online stores in one place, but also by offering customers proper insights on products they are looking for,” Lall tells Banasree Purkayastha in a recent interview. Excerpts:

At a time, when even the online marketplace is getting crowded, how does Khojdeal enable one to find the best deal?

Khojdeal aims to add value to the user’s shopping experience in ways beyond what a coupon website usually does. We intend to become a one-stop destination for consumers to stay updated not just

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