Showing posts with label Retail Weekly Roundup. Show all posts
Big Data Analytics
Brick and Mortar sores have lagged their online counterparts in understanding what the visitors to these stores are doing. Now thanks to companies like RetailNext, brick-and-mortar retailers can take advantage of the Big Data revolution to measure and improve stores just like the e-commerce sites do.
Retail BI Analytics
Boston-area based pizza chain Papa Gino's has turned to IBM business analytics software to help better meet customer expectations for on-time, anywhere pizza deliveries in 30 minutes or less -- with food ordering capabilities now available through a new iPhone application. Analytics has given Papa Gino's increased visibility into the performance of its online customer loyalty campaign, which has recently boasted a 50 percent increase in the total of an average order.
Promotions
Retailers are not above using creative gimmicks and technology to score extra points this back to school season The signs are up for back to school- and retailers are trying out some new lesson plans. The National Retail Federation expects parents with kids in Kindergarten through 12th grade will spend an average $688 dollars - up 14% from last year.
Workforce Management
Foot Locker has recently rolled out RedPrairie’s Enterprise Workforce Management (EWFM) at 2,700 retail stores throughout North America. The show and sports apparel company decided to partner with RedPrairie, a global supply chain and retail technology provider, in order to enable store associates to offer exceptional interactive customer service. Foot Locker’s implementation of RedPrairie EWFM will allow for the holistic management of its workforce through integrated applications that address time and attendance, forecasting, scheduling, labor standards, and execution management.
Store Experience
JCPenney’s plans to completely change the checkout experience at stores. Using advanced Wi-Fi networks, mobile checkout, RFID (radio-frequency identification) tracking systems for goods, and all sorts of self-checkout possibilities, JCPenney will get rid of cashiers, cash registers, and checkout counters, the staples near the exits of virtually every store, as soon as 2014.
Retail Partnerships
The luxury retail chain Neiman Marcus has partnered with discounter Target to offer a limited collection of items from 24 American designers ranging from fashion houses including Diane Von Furstenberg, Derek Lam, Rodarte and Tory Burch and which will retail at $7.99 to $499.99 and average $60. Wharton marketing professors analyzes the deal in detail.
QR Codes
A new eMarketer report, “QR Codes: Marketers Keep Hitting 'Go,' but Consumer Adoption Still Slow” shows that QR Codes have not fulfilled their promise and connected with large audiences. The explosive growth of smartphone users in the US means that there will continue to be new consumers who try scanning a barcode at least once, “but ‘one and done’ users do not create a mass audience.”
Advanced Workforce Management
In a world where showrooming threatens the future of stores, retailers have a renewed sense of urgency to increase customer service and deliver a better shopping experience. The best way to achieve this is by incorporating data sources that measure customer satisfaction in optimization recommendations and KPIs used in BI dashboards. A new study by RISNews shows that retailers are taking an increasingly customer-centric approach to workforce management (WFM) tools in the battle to win the showrooming war.
Digital Shopper Relevancy
In a new report, titled “Digital Shopper Relevancy,” Capgemini surveyed 16,000 digital shoppers across 16 developing and mature markets about their use of different channels and devices for shopping. The study demonstrated that shoppers are not loyal to one channel but expect a seamless integration across online, social media, mobile and physical stores.
60% of respondents declared they expect the convergence of retail channels to be the norm by 2014. However, achieving this will be a challenge, as more than half of shoppers said that most retailers currently are not consistent in the way they present themselves across channels.
PSFK Future of Retail
The PSFK Future of Retail Report is out which captures and contextualizes early stages of a seismic shift that is changing the face of the retail landscape. Big box retailers like Best Buy and Walmart are beginning to feel the heat as sales decline in the face of stiffer competition from e-commerce giants like Amazon. ‘Showrooming’ is the new reality. Shoppers are more educated than ever before and the ability to check prices on the fly has resulted in increased commoditization and a rethinking of how brands and retailers go about providing a differentiated offering. The pressures that companies like Amazon and Alice.com are exerting on the marketplace have forced traditional retailers to contemplate a multi-channel approach to online, mobile, and bricks-and-mortar sales. A hallmark of this changing retail environment is the savvier shopper who takes advantage of technology, is prepared to offer their personal data for a better experience, and has come to expect contextually relevant recommendations. They are actively engaged, want a say in what products get made, will evangelize offerings to get a better price for themselves and their friends, and want to be rewarded for sharing their knowledge and expertise.
Big Data
Great examples of how Big Data implementations are being used by Savvy retailers for collecting and analyzing unstructured data types like the web logs that show the movements of every customer though an internet storefront and then applying the same principles for offline customers in stores as well.
Data Deluge
Oracle announced the results of its “From Overload to Impact: An Industry Scorecard on Big Data Business Challenges” report, which surveyed 333 U.S. and Canadian C-level executives from retail and 10 other industries to determine the pain points they face regarding managing the deluge of data coming into their organizations and how well they are using that information to drive profit and growth. These 94% of C-level executives say their organization is collecting and managing more business information today than two years ago, by an average of 86% more but 29% of executives give their organization a “D” or “F” in preparedness to manage the data deluge. 93% of executives believe their organization is losing revenue – 10% annually, and, on average, $50.5 million per year – as a result of not being able to fully leverage the information they collect.
Mobile Point-of-Sale Adoption
23% of retailers had already deployed mobile point-of-sale or point-of-payment technology. And even more retailers were gearing up for such a program: More than one in 10 were in the midst of a pilot or trial program, and one-quarter of respondents planned to implement a mobile POS or POP program within a year.
Retailers using pent-up cash; 58% plan to increase capital spending, with IT No. 1 priority
While waiting for the recovery to take the hold, 58% plan to increase capital spending over the next year. The highest priority investment area is information technology – including data analytics and digital marketing channels – cited by 51% of the executives in the KPMG survey. Other significant areas of investment for retailers are new products or services (43%), geographic expansion (33%), and advertising and marketing (24%).
When asked about digital marketing channels, retail executives in the 2012 KPMG retail survey indicate that online shopping (59%), social media platforms (58%), and email campaigns (49%) are having the most significant impact on their businesses. Additionally, executive indicate that the incorporation of mobile technology is also having a significant impact, specifically mobile shopping (36%), mobile promotions (28%), and mobile payments (21%).
Executives also say that the use of data analytics is playing a larger role in their strategic decision making – including areas such as customer insight, brand and product management, pricing decisions and market expansion.
Why Loyalty Programs Can Be Bad for Business
In my work with companies on pricing strategies, it's common for executives to feel compelled to offer loyal customers something for free. My immediate question is: "Why?" Giving something away for free as a gesture of thanks has become almost reflexive in business. But when you examine the strategic value and underlying costs of these programs, I've found that loyalty discounts are rarely necessary to close a deal, nor are they always highly valued by customers.
Why Sephora Is Betting Big on Digital Shopping
Sephora is one of the brands that’s leading the way in shaping digital experiences for its customers. The company recently invested in an entirely new shopping experience that integrates mobile, social and in-store activity. On this episode of Revolution, Julie Bornstein, SVP Digital at Sephora, shares with us the importance of delivering a holistic digital and “IRL” experience, while also enhancing the individual path each customer takes to engage with the brand and their favorite products.
Brazilian fashion retailer displays Facebook ‘likes’ for items in its real-world stores
Through its new “Fashion Like” initiative, C&A has posted photos of a number of the clothing items it sells on a dedicated Facebook page, where it invites customers to “like” the ones that appeal to them. Special hooks on the racks in its bricks-and-mortar store, meanwhile, can then display those votes in real time, giving in-store shoppers a clear indication of each item’s online popularity. The video below (in Portuguese) outlines the premise in more detail:
Home Depot Rolls Out New Mobile Devices for Workers
Home Depot has started to roll out a scaled down, second generation mobile device for its sales associates, allowing more workers to use wireless technology to assist customers, CIO Matt Carey told CIO Journal. The 25,000 device roll-out is intended to make it possible for more store workers to help customers locate items and give information on products, even in areas for which they don’t have specialized expertise. It’s also an example of how Home Depot is attempting to use technology to increase the amount customers spend on each trip to the store, as well as sales to new customers, an area of focus as the chain has slowed the opening of new stores.
The device, called First Phone Junior, is a scaled-down version of the Motorola phone the company put in the hands of some associates two years ago, which allowed employees to better manage inventory, assist customers and speed checkout lines.
While the long-predicted demise of the bricks-and-mortar store has been greatly exaggerated, there is no doubt that customers are migrating to digital channels in growing numbers. Accenture looks at the issues, and identifies three steps that retailers can take to rethink the way they attract, serve and retain customers, then allocate capital and resources accordingly.
IBM Survey Reveals Marketers Face Tech Dilemma in Reaching the Connected Consumer
IBM's new survey of the marketing industry finds that chief marketing officers (CMO) and chief information officers (CIO) must join forces in order to connect with today's consumer across new channels including mobile devices and social networks. Fully 60 percent of marketers point to their lack of alignment with the company's IT department as the biggest obstacle to reaching today's consumers.
Here’s what I am reading right now.
Retailers feast on free Facebook tools, shun ads
Krishan Agarwal, president of online luxury watch vendor Melrose.com, told a roomful of attentive Internet retailers last week how Facebook had helped his company generate about 25 percent more sales in two years.
Then he dropped a bombshell: Melrose spent less than $1,500 on Facebook ads during that time. Everything else the company did with Facebook was free.
Minimum Presentation Reduction: Inventory Optimization in the Retail Sector
Minimum Presentation Reduction is an inventory optimization technique that allows retailers to realize substantial reduction in the presentation quantities of SKUs by optimizing the Planogram Quantity per Facing (PQPFs) defined for them in their associated planograms. With this inventory optimization technique, retailers can reduce inventory costs and increase margins and total sales.
Walmart, Procter & Gamble drive mobile shopping with QR codes
Walmart and Procter & Gamble are placing QR codes on bus shelters and trucks to encourage on-the-go consumers to scan and instantly buy products from brands such as Tide, Pampers and Gillette.
Shopper Sentiment: How Consumers Feel About Shopping In-Store, Online, and via Mobile
Which do US consumers prefer: In-store, online, or mobile purchases? Among U.S. consumers surveyed by Nielsen earlier this year, the answer is a resounding, “that depends…”
Online purchasing was rated the “Overall favorite” by 59 percent of those surveyed, as well as the “Easiest” (68%) and “Most convenient” (68%). But people trust traditional stores the most when making purchases: Bricks-and-mortar stores won the highest marks for “Most reliable” (69%) and “Safest” (77%).
As the newest channel, Mobile has a long way to go before it gains broad acceptance. It was in third place across all measures except for two: It was a distant second to Online for “Most convenient” (38%) and “Easiest (27%).
A Closer Look at Mobile Enablement in Retail
The retailers that are really driving these initiatives forward have made mobility a strategic initiative to drive customer engagement. They are looking to mobility to enable new business processes across the organization, from engaging the customer, to empowering associates, to enabling management to be more responsive to business and customer needs.
With so many things to write about and not enough time, I am restarting the Retail Weekly Roundup posts. The posts will provide a view on how Retailers are using technology today.
How Retailers Can Benefit From Social Media
Shopping is an inherently social activity. Why, for instance, do people go to the mall? To buy things, of course. But also to walk around, meet friends, people-watch and socialize.
By contrast, shopping on the Internet has been a lonely and solitary experience, which may explain why the average e-commerce site has a paltry 3-percent conversion rate. That means 97 percent of people who go to an online retailer in search of a product never buy what they're looking for.
However, for some retailers, social media is proving to be a valuable tool for engaging consumers, driving sales and building customer loyalty like never before. By adding social media content and capabilities to their sites -- including ratings, reviews, recommendations, blogs, photo galleries and forums -- retailers are transforming their Web properties into online destinations with vibrant communities.
Willard Bishop: The Re-emergence of Service Pricing
The single most important challenge facing companies today is finding a path towards greater value creation. Historically, value resided in the products themselves. Manufacturers developed and marketed products, and there was little focus on services or high-end customer solutions. Today, a large component of value has migrated from the product itself to how the product is moved through to the consumer.
With a challenging economy and increasing supply costs, there is a reemerging interest by Walmart and other retailers to find ways to leverage the value chain to put even more distance between themselves and less efficient competitors. How companies are structured to extract profit from the value chain is becoming more important and is leading to a renewed interest in cost-to-serve and Service Pricing programs.
Stores Retail Deals – Some key ones below, click on link to read more.
Tomax and Revionics have entered into a strategic partnership to provide workforce optimization and price optimization solutions to grocery retailers.
Several online retailers, including Lands' End, ProFlowers, PacSun, RedEnvelope and BuyCostumes, have selected CitizenHawk as their digital brand management solutions provider.
New York-based wine retailer California Wine Merchants has launched its lower Manhattan retail store and e-commerce website, built and managed with CORESense’s Multi-Channel Retail Management Software solution.Sherwin-Williams will be standardizing on SUSE Linux Enterprise point of service as the operating system for its retail store multi-function desktop/registers and in-store servers.
Personal Shopping Devices Preparing For Tipping Point In Adoption In 2009 [via Microsoft Retail & Hospitality Communique]
Personal shopping devices for consumers are reaching their “tipping point”. With Stop & Shop, a strong regional supermarket chain, signaling success with an initial test of its personal shopping device, experts say 2009 could be the beginning of the handheld era for grocery, warehouse clubs and pharmacies. Stop & Shop recently added to its new logo, color palette and employee uniforms, a handheld device, called Easyshop, which allows shoppers to scan, track and bag their groceries while they shop. The goal is larger basket size for grocery retailers, higher purchase goals for time-pressed shoppers, more total trips to the store, and higher coupon redemption rates. While the universe for consumer-facing handhelds for retail is still small, employee facing handhelds and consumer facing devices are ranked number two and three on the list of opportunities for improving the in-store experience.
10 Superstars of Retailing Beat the Downturn
As shoppers cut back on all but the most vital purchases in the economic downturn, some retailers have beat the odds and have discovered the winning formula for success. Ten retailers including BJ's, Walgreens and Hot Topic continue to post higher than expected financial results, announce store expansion plans and remain poised for future success as we enter 2009. RIS News highlights 10 surprisingly successful retailers that are surviving and thriving in one of the toughest economic climate in years.
