The 50 Best Tips of 2015
31. Build a world-class team focused on putting the customer first and delivering a seamless shopping experience that continues to excite and inspire the customer across all channels.
Krista Berry, Kohl’s, “The Top Women in Omnichannel Retail,” Winter, Total Retail
32. Be consumer centric, brand building and data driven. Your online experience doesn’t need to attempt to replicate the store experience. Guests often shop different channels for different reasons. Leverage the differences.
Sharon Price John, Build-A-Bear Workshop, “The Top Women in Omnichannel Retail,” Winter, Total Retail
Pricing
33. State your success metrics for the product. Looking to maximize margin? Liquidate excess inventory? Introduce a new product? The answer will dictate how you price the product, factoring in variables such as the product’s pricing history, the number of competitors for the product, who is the target buyer, etc.
John Valente, eBay, “Pricing Strategies to Capture Comparison Shoppers,” June 8, Total Retail Report
Search
34. A visitor should be no more than five clicks away from the product they first search for. Any more than that and the shopper gets frustrated.
Matt Clark, Newark element14, “The Rise of Amazon and Alibaba: 3 Ways B-to-B E-Commerce Can Prepare,” Feb. 6, Total Retail Report
35. More and more searches are being completed using Google’s autocomplete feature, which proposes possible searches based on whatever text is entered, even a single letter. It does this by searching its own database of searches, as well as a user’s own search history and profiles of Google+ users. Use this feature to see what kind of search terms and phrases are being used for products or brands, then tailor keywords accordingly.
Ken Burke, MarketLive, “Content and Context Matter for Mobile SEO,” May 15, Total Retail Report
Security
36. Implement two-factor authentication systems where possible. Two-factor authentication puts another barrier between your data and a hacker. Using two-factor authentication requires that a person have both the login information (username and password) and additional proof — e.g., a generated code, fingerprint, confirmation of a security notification. Even if a password is compromised, another step is required before someone can gain access to a system.
Joe Siegrist, LastPass, “6 Steps to Protect Against a Data Breach,” Feb. 13, Total Retail Report
37. Retailers shouldn’t be lured into a false sense of security when they see an elite card. For example, a “black card” from American Express might project prestige, but it also comes with fraud rates that are 2.5 times higher than the rates associated with standard cards.
Alon Shemesh, Forter, “Know the Enemy: What Merchants Can Learn From Fraudulent Behavior,” April 8, Total Retail Report
38. Ensure that all of the third-party vendors that you work with comply with your company’s data security standards. In most retail data breaches, a third party is responsible for the compromised data, not the retailer itself.
Martin Einstein, Brann & Isaacson, “How to Respond to a Data Breach,” April 14, Total Retail Report
39. Consider blocking user datagram protocol (UDP) or transmission control protocol (TCP) sources. Depending on the nature of your business, it may be more accustomed to handling web traffic of either TCP or UDP format. For example, websites incorporating video streaming and gaming services likely engage in more UDP connections, while the opposite may hold true for TCP traffic.
Charles Herring, Lancope, “5 Ways to Stop a DDoS Attack,” June 12, Total Retail Report
Shipping
40. Simply put, inefficient packaging raises your cost profile. Therefore, design boxes that tightly configure to product with little fill.
Rob Martinez, Shipware, “Delivering a Profit,” Spring, Total Retail
