Welcome to This Week in eCommerce Data, where that Friday feeling is first fueled by a round of ecommerce figures to digest over the weekend. After scanning the great plains, rugged mountains, and megacities to find the economic pulse of the US, I found these stats about ecommerce data, well, interesting:

Key ecommerce data

49%

how much US ecommerce grew in April compared to early March, just before lockdown measures across the country were put in place. The jump is largely due to increases in online sales, which are comparable to Black Friday figures.

16%

the drop in retail spending last week, while ecommerce was up 8.4% during the same period, providing a mixed bag of results. Many more customers are buying online due to lockdown measures, which has been boosting the ecommerce of retailers while many stores remain empty or hold limited capacity.

60%

the increase in click-and-collect sales in the US from the previous year, with end of year sales forecast to reach $74 billion.

74%

the spike in Walmart’s ecommerce revenue in Q1, while withdrawing its financial outlook for the remainder of the year given the uncertainty.

282%

the increase in Target’s online sales for April compared to last year, driven by a new strategy of quicker delivery options such as same-day curbside pickup.

What do we make out of all these numbers? While there seems to be a growth in commerce, it is focused in nontraditional industries. On top of that, retail has been severely impacted for 2020, and so we are going to see the same conditions (or worse) in May. I would suggest the following:

Companies need to see beyond retail, and focus on groceries, home entertainment, healthcare products, alternative products, etc.

Online retail needs to be optimized and adjusted based on reduced sales and budgets. In order to have a successful Black Friday in 5 months, we need to creatively focus now on delivering more for less. What we need, in other words, is MVP thinking — even at the big companies.

For retailers this year, innovation will come from flexibility with budgeting, how flexible you can be with onboarding a client, and how flexible you can be doing more with less.