The effects of the current pandemic on retail have been unlike anything we’ve seen in the industry. Consumer behaviors are five years ahead of predictions and strategic technology timelines have shrunk from several years to a few months. These dramatic occurrences are all because omnichannel is essential right now. The cautious consumer isn’t a trend…
Stephan Schambach
The COVID-19 crisis is proving to be a catalyst for change across all dimensions of retail. Some of this transformation was already underway for some specialty brands. They were on a path to building a more direct-to-consumer (D-to-C) business. However, what the pandemic ultimately underscores for them and others is that retail can’t go back…
I’ve long been a proponent of making omnichannel a C-suite issue. It has to come from the top down. But the brands struggling to deliver a true omnichannel experience have a fundamental issue. At an organizational level, many brands still operate online and in-store in silos. E-commerce and physical retail are their own separate entities,…
There's little doubt in the retail industry that it’s time to make big changes. And if anything was clear this year at the National Retail Federation's Big Show, it was that retailers are on the search for technologies that can help them adapt to the times. Specifically, these retailers are looking to provide the omnichannel…
The future of the retail industry is mobile. However, retailers have been slow to progress in this area, and brands need help with omnichannel. Most consumers shop with their smartphone in hand while visiting a brick-and-mortar store, and they’ve been trained by the likes of Apple, Amazon.com and Uber to expect a seamless mobile experience…
Imagine a group of people in a public place. One person asks, “I need to make a call, and I forgot my phone at home. Can I borrow yours?” The phone is presented, password entered and handed over. Observe the look of trepidation in the lender’s eyes. The phone is in another person’s hands. What…
As online shoppers become increasingly savvy, catalogers must meet rapidly changing customer needs and expectations. The must-haves for accomplishing this are advanced e-commerce features that support personalization of online merchandising and enhance the brand experience. These features will allow catalogers to quickly respond to trends, assist in buying decisions, build customer loyalty, target marketing initiatives and enable product comparisons. Until recently, personalization features have been more reactive than proactive and have been delivered using approaches that leave much to be desired. Available e-commerce solutions that are fully featured have tended to be inflexible and expensive. In-house e-commerce development has left many catalogers with a confusing
