Omnichannel

Women's apparel pricing at Macy's is such a turnoff to consumers that they'd rather shop for clothes at lower-priced department stores, recent data suggest. Nearly 40 percent of Macy's shoppers who go to the department store and buy home goods, for example, tend to make an extra trip to Kohl's to buy women's clothes, according to a recent report from Prosper Insights & Analytics. "Macy's has a lot of women's clothing shoppers. It's our No. 3 women's clothing store, but we do see this cross-shopping, which we call lost opportunity," said Pam Goodfellow, an analyst at Prosper.

David’s Bridal is turning to Manhattan Associates to bolster its omnichannel offerings and ensure on-time and accurate delivery of customer orders from across its network. The announcement comes on

Dick's Sporting Goods is leveraging omnichannel fulfillment. Over the past four years, the retailer has rolled out omnichannel capabilities, providing the ability to create online orders in stores, create an endless aisle experience for customers, and ship orders placed in-store for free. In addition, Dick's has utilized vendors to ship directly to customers for several years, improving inventory turn.

Nordstrom Labs is a small team of techies, designers, entrepreneurs, statisticians, researchers and artists whose mission is to discover what will be in the future of retailing. It's one of the most important initiatives underway at Nordstrom, as management looks to build on its legacy of customer service and care in a technological world. Based in Seattle, also the hometown of Amazon.com, Nordstrom is well aware that the future with its tech-savvy consumers will bring many profound changes.

Macy's is an exclusive launch partner for Apple's new iAd-supported streaming radio service, iTunes radio, as part of the retailer's omnichannel marketing strategy. Macy's can leverage iAd on iTunes radio to reach a broad cross-section of consumers with compelling digital, visual and audio engagement experiences on their iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Apple TV, Mac or PC.

Staples and RadioShack have removed Amazon.com's temporary storage lockers from their brick-and-mortar stores, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. The stores added the lockers last year but have decided that housing a competitor's storage units wasn't a good idea. The lockers allowed Amazon customers to have their purchases delivered to a secure location that they could visit at their convenience. The units are meant to give Amazon an opportunity to compete with brands like Best Buy and Wal-Mart, which offer in-store pick up for their online customers. 

It's hard to ignore the force that is Alex and Ani. Founded by Carolyn Rafaelian, the holistic inspired jewelry company has rapidly evolved from a small business to a national brand that consists of retail boutiques, wholesale licensing, cafes, a professional development program and media company. Alex and Ani's bangle bracelets and charms have been sported by the like of teenage girls, Olympians and none other than the Dalai Lama. So how did this SMB from Rhode Island become a household name in just two years? 

As the United States’ largest specialty apparel chain, Gap needs to keep the shelves well stocked at its 2,425 U.S. stores and 3,100 worldwide. That means keeping a lot of in-store inventory. At the same time, the company needs enough inventory in its e-commerce fulfillment channel to meet that growing demand. To bridge those two inventory sources, Gap came up with a solution, known as Ship From Store, at the end of 2012 and implemented it into its e-commerce system. Ship From Store lets online shoppers buy directly from store inventory.

As retailers continue to work on creating an organization revolved around the consumer and the omnichannel environment, there are new challenges to consider. These are especially true around consumer intelligence and accurate data.

JustFab, known for its engaging and personalized online shopping experience, today announced the opening of a 3,000 square-foot flagship store in Los Angeles. JustFab is the first fashion subscription e-commerce company to open a retail store. Launched in 2010 as a web-only fashion brand offering women's footwear, JustFab has since expanded into multiple international markets and new product categories. Now, with over 33 million members worldwide through a portfolio of lifestyle fashion brands including JustFab, FabKids, ShoeDazzle and Fabletics, co-CEOs Adam Goldenberg and Don Ressler are taking the company into traditional retail, upending the typical growth strategy most brands follow.