This briefing is part of our Digital Transformation Monthly 2022 in Review, which looks back over the trends that defined the past year and considers how they might impact the year to come.

We'll look at the trends that arched across sectors, from finance to pharma, retail to travel, and be examining how businesses of all sizes have responded to these trends. This section focuses on the lasting impact of the online shopping surge of 2020-21: the dynamics it gave rise to, the changed environment of 2022, and how businesses have navigated the transition between the two.

2021 saw a record number of ecommerce companies making Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), more than the figures for 2019 and 2020 combined. The elevated levels of online shopping brought about by the pandemic and its associated lockdowns brought record sales and growth for ecommerce startups, many of which are digitally-native direct to consumer (D2C) brands.

However, these chickens came home to roost in 2022, as ecommerce companies faced a number of challenges to maintaining their growth and turning a profit (or at least narrowing their losses).

Contents:

• D2C disruptors feel the squeeze
• Retailers turn to marketplaces to scale and diversify
• Buy Now, Pay Later faces economic headwinds, competition and regulation