Digital orders for groceries and restaurant deliveries soared "years ahead in their growth trend trajectory” during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, reported NPD Wednesday. By May, 40% of shoppers ordered edible groceries online compared with 28% in May 2019, it said. “Consumers more than tripled their share of restaurant meals ordered digitally” during Q2, the researcher said. “Managing stress levels and maintaining a healthy home environment grew in terms of consumers’ health and wellness focus areas, whereas work/life balance and quality sleep, which were the top health needs, declined during the pandemic. As a means of coping with stress, consumers turned to more comfort foods.”

Online sales will top $2 billion daily Nov. 1-21, swelling to $3 billion daily Nov. 22-Dec. 3, Adobe Analytics forecast Wednesday. Nov. 1-Dec. 31 holiday season e-commerce sales will total $189 billion, “shattering all previous records” with a 33% year-on-year surge, Adobe said. Another round of government stimulus checks -- or a shutdown of physical stores in large parts of the country -- could produce an additional $11 billion in online shopping, it said. Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are projected to pull in more than $10 billion in e-commerce, up 39% over 2019. Cyber Monday will again be the biggest online shopping day, generating $12.7 billion, a 35% spike, said the analytics firm. Some $6 billion will be spent online on Thanksgiving, a 42% rise. Cyber Week, traditionally Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, will be replaced this year by “Cyber Months,” Adobe said. Mobile shopping will continue its upward surge, with U.S. consumers spending $28.1 billion more on their smartphones, up 55%. Smartphones will generate 42% of online holiday sales, said the report. Thirty-one percent of consumers rarely shopped online before lockdowns took hold in April; 9% were net new to online shopping. Half of all orders Dec. 21-23 will be at retailers that offer buy online, pick up in store, up 40% from last year, which is expected to result in longer pickup lines later in the season. Shoppers are 9% more likely to buy at retailers that offer BOPIS or curbside pickup on big sale days. Health concerns factor into 19% of consumers’ plans for BOPIS or curbside pickup this year vs. 4% last year.

Give consumers what they want and let them shop accordingly, said Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner on a National Retail Federation webinar Tuesday, noting retailers must adapt to how people expect to shop in uncertain times. COVID-19 accelerated initiatives the retailer had in its sights, he said. On holding three November deal events (see 2010140038) versus Black Friday week, Furner said it was a Texas store team’s email suggesting giving employees Thanksgiving off, “with all that’s going on,” that put in motion the decision. Three events give customers time to think through shopping options and whether to buy in store or online, or buy online, pick up in store. “Our events will be much more digital this year than they’ve ever been before,” the executive said. Furner compared changes in retailing to time he spent with Walmart in China in 2013-15, when he saw a rate of consumer change “enabled by technology that I probably would not have dreamed possible at such a large scale had I not been there.” A country with 1 billion consumers went from “analog and physical to digital in just a couple years.” Built on mobile technology, it showed “how fast things can happen without the constraint of legacy infrastructure. You’re trying to adapt as you move.” Since the pandemic, “we think we probably skipped a couple of years, if not three or four years, of adopting one channel and using the other channel to help enable it,” said Furner.

Corning is among tech companies benefiting from coronavirus-fueled demand. Q3 sales in Corning’s specialty materials business were $570 million, up 23% from the 2019 quarter, “in sharp contrast” to declining smartphone shipments, said Chief Financial Officer Tony Tripeny on a Tuesday call (login required). Ceramic Shield cover glass sales to Apple for the iPhone 12 helped drive the increase, he said. Ceramic Shield is exclusive to Apple, said Corning CEO Wendell Weeks. “They helped us develop it” and invested in U.S. manufacturing for it at Corning’s plant in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, he said: “That’s theirs.” Sales in Corning’s display-glass business were $827 million, up 10% sequentially, said Tripeny. “It appears that the impact from COVID-19 has been a positive. In developed markets, consumers are prioritizing in-home entertainment. Globally work and study from home trends are growing.” The glassmaker expects a “really solid” Q4 in notebook PCs and large-screen TVs, said Weeks. “We’re off to a really good start this month.” Corning’s consumer tech business segments “continue to flash green,” he said. “The global uncertainties just remind us to be very humble in our ability to precisely predict the future, and exactly how our customers are going to work their way through this uncertainty.”

Three-quarters of the world’s top public companies “will commit to providing technical parity to a workforce that is hybrid by design" by 2023, predicted IDC Tuesday. This will enable employees “to work together separately and in real time,” it said. “The result will be a more collaborative, informed, and productive workforce.” It projects “technical debt” accumulated during the COVID-19 pandemic will “shadow” 70% of chief information officers the next three years, causing financial stress, “inertial drag on IT agility” and "forced” migrations to the cloud. “Smart CIOs will look for opportunities to design next-generation digital platforms that modernize and rationalize infrastructure and applications while delivering flexible capabilities to create and deliver new products, services, and experiences to workers and customers.” Enterprises that focus on “digital resiliency” will adapt to disruption 50% faster than those “fixated” on restoring legacy systems, said IDC.

After a “dismal” 2020 with “months of theater closures, low utilization and a dearth of new content,” 2021 is also shaping up as challenging for Imax, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter wrote investors Monday. Several high-profile Imax films were pushed to next year, making the list “appear satisfactory,” but Wedbush sees “significantly slower screen growth in 2021” as theater partners look to prop up balance sheets. The theater chain doesn’t face bankruptcy risk, said Pachter, citing a “cash runway” and cost structure. The analyst expects crowds to return to theaters in North America and Europe once a COVID-19 vaccine is available. Imax blockbusters are largely insulated from the threat of premium VOD, and Wedbush expects Imax to continue expanding market share. Meanwhile, U.S. moviegoers are becoming more confident going to theaters due to new safety measures, said a Monday Comscore survey. Some 92% had a positive experience at the movies, with 60% saying they would return. Just over half said they went back to theaters to socialize with friends and family and to return to normal routines. Recent compelling film releases were also drivers. The survey of 3,000 U.S. consumers was fielded Aug. 21-Sept. 6.

With Prime Day pushed into Q4, Amazon’s Q3 performance is likely to be strong but “muted” after a "sensational" Q2, emailed eMarketer analyst Andrew Lipsman Friday. The analytics firm expects a “historically great” holiday quarter for Amazon, with the added bump of the 48-hour sales event in October. It predicts Amazon’s 2020 e-commerce revenue will soar 37% vs. 2019 to $476 billion, for 12.2% of the global e-commerce market, with Marketplace accounting for 60.1% of e-commerce and direct sales for 39.9%. Cowen said Amazon has become an “essential piece of the shopping experience” for millennials and Generation Z consumers from initial search to product research to purchase when shopping online and in store: “The reliance on Amazon by these consumers is crucial as they enter their prime spending years and should act as a tailwind for Amazon expanding its portion of US wallet share in the coming years,” analyst John Blackledge wrote investors Friday. On major store closings, the Q1 COVID-19 shutdown was the “last straw” for many traditional retailers already dealing with rising e-commerce competition, Cowen said, due to stagnant brick-and-mortar sales and heavy debt. It expects 2020 store closings to pass 10,000. E-commerce penetration for clothing purchases will reach 42%, it estimated, vs. media (77%), office supplies (61%) and electronics (61%).

Overall holiday spending is expected to fall, with the e-commerce share rising, Accenture forecast Friday. Forty percent of consumers say they will spend less than they did for the 2019 holidays, said a survey of 1,517 U.S. consumers fielded in August. Retailers need to shore up digital commerce with resilient supply chains, it said, while practicing “operational agility” and using data analytics with social responsibility. Getting consumers to shop earlier will be key to ensuring supply chains can meet intense e-commerce demand during peak shopping periods, Accenture said. About a third of consumers plan to shop earlier. It's “shaping up to be a very 'human' holiday season for consumers, with a desire to support the people who have served our communities,” said Jill Standish, senior managing director-global lead, retail. Three-quarters of consumers support retailers closing on Thanksgiving; 60% plan to minimize in-store shopping to reduce health risks to workers. About 57% said they would be inspired to patronize a retailer that supported its staff and customers during the pandemic; 41% said they wouldn’t shop a retailer that laid off or reduced staff due to the virus. Some 75 percent of consumers say they will do some holiday shopping online this year, up from 65% last year; 43% plan to shop exclusively online. Retailers need to fortify e-commerce capabilities, providing detailed visibility into demand changes and inventory and focusing on “seamless experiences and fulfillment efficiency,” said Brooks Kitchel, managing director-strategy, retail. Over three-quarters of shoppers want purchases delivered directly to their homes. Patience shown early during COVID-19 is waning: 56% said they won’t shop with a retailer again after an unsatisfactory delivery experience.

Since the onset of the pandemic, 79% of consumers say cybersecurity is equally or more concerning than it was for them a year ago, and 23% believe their personally identifiable information is very secure, Fiserv reported Friday. A third of consumers have increased their use of touchless payments and 69% plan to. Preferred payment types are credit and debit cards (52%) and cash (43%), while 33% use mobile app payment, 15% use QR codes, 43% use buy online, pick up in store and 50% have used curbside pickup. Generation Z is the largest group of mobile app payment users at 41%. Nearly half of users say they would “very likely” delete a social media account if breached; 55% would delete a compromised mobile app. Over a third of consumers are changing passwords more this year than in 2019, with pets’ names the most popular password choice.

Q3 revenue in Intel’s “PC-centric” business increased 1% to $9.8 billion on strong notebook CPU demand for remote work and learning, said Chief Financial Officer George Davis on a Thursday investor call. Intel’s July 23 forecast was for Q3 PC-centric revenue to decline by mid-single digits. For Q4, “we see many of the same dynamics” that were in place in Q3, said Davis. “We see continued strength in consumer notebook PCs supported by work and learn-from-home dynamics and from increased supply.” Intel “significantly improved supply” of CPUs in Q3, said CEO Bob Swan. Revenue for the year is expected to exceed its January forecast by $1.8 billion, “even as COVID has significantly impacted our business mix,” he said. Full-year gross margin will be down about 2 points vs. the forecast, on shifts away from enterprise PC products “in a work-from-home, study-from-home environment,” he said. Q3 “turned out to be a very different quarter than we thought going in, a much heavier mix of the entry-level PC markets -- both consumer and education,” said Davis. Average selling prices declined “even as we saw strong unit demand,” he said. The stock closed 10.6% lower Friday at $48.20.