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Our Shifting Digital Retail Habits

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Online shopping continues to remake the world. Mobile shopping, now in the lead. And retail culture, remade.

Amazon Prime employee Alicia Jackson hunts for items at the company's urban fulfillment facility that have been ordered by customers, in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
Amazon Prime employee Alicia Jackson hunts for items at the company's urban fulfillment facility that have been ordered by customers, in New York. (Mark Lennihan/AP)

Online shopping is as regular as Santa Claus these days. But its reach just keeps growing. Even in the store now, Americans are browsing with smartphone in hand, as ready to order online as walk to the checkout counter. It’s changing what stores are. Many have vanished. Others are downsizing. And the culture around shopping – a big chunk of American life – is changing too. This hour On Point, how the “buy now” button is changing the world. — Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Sarah Halzack, national retail reporter for the Washington Post. (@sarahhalzack)

Christian Magoon, CEO of Amplify Exchange Traded Funds and CEO of Magoon Capital. (@ChristianMagoon)

Thom Blischok, global strategic retail adviser to Nielsen Holdings PLC and CEO of the Dialogic Group.

From Tom’s Reading List

Washington Post: What happened when I tried ‘buy online, pick up in store’ on Black Friday -- "This holiday shopping season, retailers are eagerly promoting their click-and-collect programs, in which shoppers can place an order online and pick it up at a nearby store. The big chains are salivating over the possibility this model lets them fulfill your orders faster — in a matter of hours, not days — and it allows them to utilize their old-school brick-and-mortar outposts in the fight for your e-commerce spending."

Money: Amazon Is Dominating the Holiday Shopping Season to a Shocking Degree — "Online shopping has been booming thus far in the holiday shopping season. According to Adobe Digital Insights, e-retail sales in the U.S. totaled $9.36 billion from Thanksgiving Day to the Sunday that followed, an increase of over 16% compared to the same period last year. On Cyber Monday, online sales reached an all-time high of $3.39 billion, a 10% increase over the day in 2015 and only slightly higher than e-retail purchases on Black Friday 2016 ($3.34 billion)."

The Wall Street Journal: Mobile Looms Larger With Holiday Shoppers — "Americans jumped on holiday deals over the weekend but a larger slice of their spending migrated online, often through mobile devices, highlighting the high-wire act that faces retailers tethered to stores."

This program aired on December 2, 2016.

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