Omnichannel

Offer great customer service, make sure your messaging is personalized, and have a single view of the customer are some of the best ways to create brand loyalists. These were a few of the key takeaways from a panel discussion on customer retention that took place at the eTail West conference last week in Palm Desert, Calif.

Target on Monday lowered the threshold for free shipping on online orders to $25, making it among the most competitive among major retailers. Its previous free-shipping minimum was $50, which placed it in the higher end of the spectrum. Amazon.com offers free shipping on orders above $35, and offers free two-day delivery for customers who buy a subscription to its Amazon Prime service. Wal-Mart offers free shipping on orders of $50 or more. Many retailers, including Target, temporally suspend those minimums for the holiday shopping season.

Leading branded footwear company Wolverine Worldwide is eyeing 2015 as a year to focus on omnichannel and expansion. The parent company of Stride Rite, Merrell and other brands says it's poised to realign its resources to address a fundamental shift in consumer shopping behavior and allow for greater focus on important omnichannel initiatives. The Michigan-based company also said that its fourth quarter net income rose as sales climbed in every region except North America. 

Best Buy wants to be that something blue in your wedding. The Richfield, Minn.-based electronics retailer is leaping into the lucrative wedding industry by launching its first gift registry, catching up to couples whose lives at home center around multimedia family rooms instead of dining rooms filled with the traditional bounty of crystal and china. Wedding registry kiosks, in the company's signature blue color, will begin rolling out to stores next month. Best Buy already quietly added a registry page to its website earlier this year and its mobile app will be updated with it next week.

Have you ever been browsing the shelves at J.C. Penney and thought to yourself, "Boy, I need a new haircut?" Probably not. But the department store is hoping to change that by reinventing its 850 salons across the U.S. In a new partnership with Time-owned fashion magazine InStyle, Penney's will rebrand its salons into a "modern, cutting-edge salon concept" called The Salon by InStyle. The retailer will launch the project with 15 pilot locations this summer, with the nationwide rollout planned for 2016.

According to a survey by the National Retail Federation conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, an estimated 184 million Americans are expected to watch Super Bowl XLIX this Sunday. Among this audience includes consumers who are expected to spend more than $14 billion in relation to Super Bowl XLIX - spending dollars on food, drinks, accessories, apparel, home 

Results of the e-tailing group's 2014 Mystery Shopping Study, conducted during last year's fourth quarter, recognizes seven retailers out of the 100 benchmarked as excelling at online customer service. In today's omnichannel climate and amid heightened consumer expectations, customer service can serve as both an expected yet important differentiator. These retailers have invested in customer service excellence and we commend their performance. Service today means unprecedented access via every channel and every device where efficiency is an expectation and choice non-negotiable. 

J.C. Penney is gearing up for Disney's release of the live action "Cinderella" movie in theaters on March 13, hoping for another big hit like Disney's wildly popular animated feature film "Frozen." Stores are getting product for the movie, which stars Lily James as Cinderella and Cate Blanchett as the wicked stepmother. Richard Madden plays the prince. For J.C. Penney, Disney is the gift that keeps on giving, making its stores a destination for merchandise made exclusively for Penney by Disney vs. the licensed merchandise sold at other stores.

The age of digital retailing still presents a number of challenges for businesses, and especially for customer service teams. Greater insight into online behavior means we can understand our customers’ needs in depth — plus, we can track and engage with them in real time — but what about the human touch? It's a mistake to assume all customer interactions only happen online.

Target may have ruffled some feathers in the past with what some considered a lack of plus-size offerings, but the retailer seems to be making up for it now. Target says it's launching a new plus-size line, Ava & Viv, which will be sold both online and in-store starting on Feb. 22. "Target is synonymous with great design, and with the launch of Ava & Viv, we're stepping up our fashion game for our plus-size guests," said Stacia Andersen, senior vice president, merchandising, apparel and accessories, Target.