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With online retail sales estimated to reach an eye-watering $6.5 trillion by 2023, the ecommerce sector was already booming. But since the outbreak, online shopping has been catapulted into complete overdrive. Even the largest retailers on the planet are struggling to keep up with the unprecedented consumer demand—but what exactly are people buying? To answer this question, retail intelligence firm Stackline analyzed ecommerce sales across the U.S. and compiled a list of the fastest growing and declining ecommerce categories (March 2020 vs....

But the implications of this revolution of connectivity extend way behind just smartphones and your home. In fact, it’s about to be applied on an industrial scale to everything from aerospace to mining in ways that people can hardly imagine. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) will pull data from millions of tiny sensors on every piece of industrial equipment fathomable. Companies will harness this data in real-time to create insights and efficiencies on a crazy scale: GE estimates it will help to generate a $10-$15 trillion increase in global GDP over the next 20 years....

While job loss persists for Americans making less than $20 an hour, the rich have gotten richer. More specifically, the most wealthy American billionaires have seen their net worth bounce back dramatically, thanks to strong stock market performance. Here’s a look at who’s gotten richer since the market bottom in March 2020, and just how much their net worth has increased since then: Billionaire Net Worth Growth in 2020 Between March’s market bottom and December 2020, the billionaires included on this list grew their wealth by 57% on average....

Here’s a look at the top 10 most valuable real estate cities, by median value: San Jose comes in first at $1.1 million, while its city neighbor, San Francisco, places second at $959,000 per home. It’s not a huge surprise that cities in the Bay Area take the two top spots on the list—the tech-mecca is well known for its red-hot real estate, largely driven by limited housing supply and the area’s high cost of living....

In a modern business era of near-constant disruption, which brands are winning the hearts of consumers the fastest? Today’s charts look at the brands that are trending upwards. See below for the brands that have gained the most in brand value since last year, as assessed by BrandZ in their report on the world’s 100 most valuable brands. Onwards and Upwards for Tech As many big name brands try to find their footing in today’s fast-paced consumer environment, it’s not surprising to see up-and-coming tech brands skyrocketing in value....

Shipping and Logistics The biggest single warehouse is in Schertz, TX, just outside of San Antonia, which alone measures 1,264,200 square feet. Warehouses this size can ship up to 1 million items per day during the holiday rush. on But fast forward to the end of last week, and SVB was shuttered by regulators after a panic-induced bank run. So, how exactly did this happen? We dig in below. Road to a Bank Run SVB and its customers generally thrived during the low interest rate era, but as rates rose, SVB found itself more exposed to risk than a typical bank....

Introducing: The Money Project We are proud to announce the launch of The Money Project, an exploration of the meaning of money itself. The aim of The Money Project is to understand the evolving nature of money, and to try to answer the difficult questions about the role that money plays in finance, investments, and accumulating wealth. We will do this through the use of rich visuals, such as infographics, data visualizations, motion graphic videos, and interactive content....

According to a recent analysis by the Washington Post, $1 billion of these funds can be attributed to the top 50 donors. In typical Visual Capitalist style, we’ve illustrated this data to provide you with better insight. Overview of the Data The following table lists the top 10 individual donors of the 2022 midterm elections. Sorting this top 10 donor list by party, we can see that $168 million was raised for the Democrats, and $338 million for the Republicans....

Since the late 1980s, Gallup has been polling people on their perception of crime in the United States, and consistently, the majority of respondents indicate that they see crime as becoming more prevalent. As well, a recent poll showed that more than two-thirds of Americans feel that today’s youth are less safe from crime and harm than the previous generation. Even the highest ranking members of the government have been suggesting that the country is in the throes of a crime wave....

Like many other things in this world, the amount of freedom that people have ebbs and flows with time. In general, it can be argued that political and economic freedoms have been increasing steadily since The Enlightenment – but of course, there are always shorter corrections along the way where freedom seems to spiral downwards in the interim. Right now, we’re in one of those ruts, and global freedom has consecutively declined for a 12 year period....

New data from this year’s Wealth Report by Knight Frank shows that the number of Ultra-High Net Worth Individuals (UHNWIs) grew 9.3% between 2020 and 2021. Nearly all regions saw an increase in ultra-wealthy people over the time period. The above visualization from the report explores the global distribution of uber-affluent people. Below, we’ll also look at how the populations are projected to grow in the future. The World’s Ultra-Wealthy, by Region UHNWIs are defined as having net assets of $30 million or more, including their primary residence....

Today’s connected cars come stocked with as many as 200 onboard sensors, tracking everything from engine temperature to seatbelt status. And all those sensors create reams of data, which will increase exponentially as the autonomous driving revolution gathers pace. With carmakers planning on uploading 50-70% of that data, this has serious implications for policymakers, manufacturers, and local network infrastructure. In this visualization from our sponsor Global X ETFs, we ask the question: will connected cars break the internet?...

50 Years of LNG On October 12, 1964, the first commercial shipment of liquified natural gas (LNG) was made between Algeria and Canvey Island in the United Kingdom. From the time of this very first LNG export, there are now 29 countries importing LNG. The amount of vessels carrying LNG at sea has ballooned to 424 LNG carriers with another 127 on order. Many countries have been more reliant on LNG importing in recent years....

What Recovery? [Chart] 9.4 Million More Americans Below Poverty Line Than Pre-Crisis The Chart of the Week is a weekly Visual Capitalist feature on Fridays. According to Janet Yellen, we are still on pace to raise rates in 2015. While the rate hike was supposed to happen this month, it got derailed by the August market selloff, volatility in China, lackluster work force numbers, and a variety of other factors. Despite the Fed continuing to kick this down the road, they continue to claim that we are in the middle of an ongoing recovery....

A History of Notable Stock Bubbles In today’s insanely connected world, the ability to create and burst market bubbles is even more amplified. For those uninitiated, a bubble is when speculation in a type of security inflates the price far beyond the fundamentals allow. While they can go for years or even decades, eventually reality takes hold and the bubble can crash in a much shorter time frame. In just the last 15 years, two notable bubbles were popped in the Dot-Com and housing markets....

Did you know that nearly one-fifth of all the gold ever mined is held by central banks? Besides investors and jewelry consumers, central banks are a major source of gold demand. In fact, in 2022, central banks snapped up gold at the fastest pace since 1967. However, the record gold purchases of 2022 are in stark contrast to the 1990s and early 2000s, when central banks were net sellers of gold....

At the beginning of this decade, the NBA was not on firm footing. More than half of the league’s teams were losing money, and negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement were looming. Today, however, the NBA has undeniable momentum, buoyed by hefty broadcast agreements and superstars like LeBron James and Steph Curry. With interest in the NFL flagging in the U.S., professional basketball appears to be seizing the opportunity to win over sports fans and grow the popularity of the league....

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is reported on daily by every major finance and media platform—a testament to its importance and relevance in global financial markets. The market benchmark has a rich history embedded alongside America’s rise as a global superpower in the 20th century, and the inflows and outflows of companies on the 30 stock index coincide with broader secular trends. For example, the delisting of many industrial stocks over time encapsulates America’s transition towards a service-based economy....

Today’s post helps to put recessions into perspective. It draws information from Capital Group to break down the frequency of economic expansions and recessions in modern U.S. history, while also showing their typical impact. What is a Recession? Not all recessions are the same. Some can last long while others are short. Some create lasting effects, while others are quickly forgotten. Some cripple entire economies, while others are much more targeted, impacting specific sectors within the economy....

So much so, that blockchain-focused venture capital fundraising tripled to $3 billion between the years 2017 and 2018. Four Practical Uses for Blockchain Tech Today’s graphic from Noah Coin highlights four major sectors where blockchain technology is being used to innovate and enhance important business processes. In an increasingly digital world, which industries are being transformed by blockchain? One of the primary benefits of blockchain technology is its immutability─the unchangeable nature of the “ledger” of data posted to the network....