E-Commerce

I had the opportunity to chat recently with Beth Guastella, the recently named president and chief operating officer of giggle, an omnichannel specialty retailer of upscale baby products and resources. In part one of this two-part blog post, we discuss what attracted Guastella to giggle; what specialty retail is; and how giggle’s catalog business works. 

The enormous customer base created by social media has been realized and now the next evolutionary phase of the internet, Web 3.0, is just on the horizon and is already creating exciting new internet retail strategies and technologies that will push e-commerce to great new levels.

"The risk not taken is more dangerous than the risk taken," wrote Bonobos Co-Founder and CEO Andy Dunn, explaining his decision to turn down a secure job at a Silicon Valley venture capital firm and team up with Stanford business school classmate Brian Spaly to launch a new kind of men's apparel brand, focused on selling well-fitting pants online. After "creative differences," Spaly left the business in 2009, in what was a mutual though difficult split. But under Dunn's stewardship the company has not only survived, but flourished.

Welp, rumors that H&M's long-awaited U.S. e-commerce launch was finally going to happen in June appear to have been false, considering here we are, smack in the middle of July, and we got nothing. To briefly recap: after multiple delays, the brand announced that e-commerce would probably be ready by "the middle of 2013." Hope was bolstered last February, when an employee in a New York retail store leaked the news that a launch date of June 2013 was announced internally at a staff meeting. 

Designing your e-commerce store isn't only about making it look good; it's also about making sure that it generates sales. Your goal is to make visitors not only trust your site, but have confidence in the product they're buying as well. Your second goal is to make sure visitors are able to navigate properly and quickly through the site. Not only do you want them to get to the item they're looking for quickly, but customers want their purchase to be quick and painless as well. 

Specialty beauty retailer Sephora is turning to Duncan/Channon to design the website for its new Marc Jacobs Beauty collection. The site goes live Aug. 9, following the launch of a teaser site, likewise designed by Duncan/Channon. "The Duncan/Channon team came to us with the most inspiring site concepts and demonstrated a deep understanding of what we want to accomplish," said Connie Young, senior marketing director for Sephora. "I truly feel that they are an extension of our team."

L2, a New York University think tank that specializes in retail economics, has released their first-ever ranking of department stores based on digital prowess, and here's a shocker: Macy's has beat out pace-setting digital darling Net-a-Porter. Macy's comes in second on this list, topped only by Nordstrom, while Net-a-Porter is way down the ladder at seventh. Saks, UK-based Marks & Spencer, Neiman Marcus, and Bloomingdale's also rank ahead of of the luxury e-tailer. So, er, how is that possible?

Competing with an e-commerce Goliath like Amazon.com can be a daunting task, but specialty merchants have some distinct advantages, including the capacity to forge strong ties with shoppers through a brand community. Amazon's online warehouse of products offers little to unite customers around a common lifestyle or passion. By focusing on a particular product category, value proposition or audience, you can provide meaningful interaction and a shopping experience to connect your customers with other like-minded consumers.

With the paradigm shift from brick-and-mortar to online retail, too many business owners think that great customer service has lost its importance. A customer, however, is always a customer, and whether the purchase process takes place in a store or on a laptop, in order to get repeat business, you want to give your buyer the easiest, most enjoyable experience possible. If you're unsure how to improve customer service online, follow these helpful pointers:

Newegg, a leading electronics-focused e-retailer in the U.S., has launched a flash-sale site, NeweggFlash.com. The site offers consumers daily bargains in a variety of product categories, from technology and consumer electronics to housewares, fashion, jewelry, skincare and makeup. Flash sales or "deals of the day" allow consumers to shop for items at deeply discounted prices — always, of course, "for a limited time only." NeweggFlash is a members-only site, but membership is free.