Omnichannel

As digital ad costs continue to climb, it’s no surprise that direct-to-consumer (D-to-C) brands are looking for new ways to connect with customers. However, they cannot take a one-size-fits-all approach to customer engagement. Today’s shoppers are split on where they prefer to engage with brands. In fact, our recent Brand Authenticity Report found that nearly…

Since the rise of Amazon.com, e-commerce shops have been steadily taking market share from brick-and-mortar retailers. This trend exploded during the pandemic: In 2020 alone, e-commerce grew more than 3X in the U.S. and nearly 5X in the United Kingdom. But in 2022, e-commerce and in-store retail are converging, not competing. The reason? The emergence…

Retail has certainly evolved over the past two years. Today, we're living in an omnichannel retail universe that must be catered to carefully by retailers. Store associates can’t be expected to carry the entire load and overwhelming task of the end-to-end sales process anymore, but we also can’t entirely lean on artificial intelligence (AI) to…

For the fifth time, NAPCO Research, in conjunction with Blackhawk Network, has undertaken a comprehensive review of the state of merchants’ gift card offerings. The 2022 review included an assessment of retailers’ e-commerce/digital, mobile, and in-store gift card offerings, providing a holistic view into the consumer gift card purchase and recipient experience. The full report…

A comprehensive multinational review of the state of merchants’ gift card programs

Online shopping might be easy, convenient and prolific, yet it hasn’t erased the need for flagship brick-and-mortar retail establishments. In fact, retail real estate is undergoing a phenomenal — and some might say surprising — comeback. As REJournals reported, roughly 60 percent of businesses with physical retail assets plan to expand their footprints in 2022. What’s driving the momentum?…

Although retail was already shifting toward integrated physical and digital experiences, the pandemic accelerated the trend, disrupting incumbent business models. Moreover, agile competitors further widened these gaps in the traditional retail landscape, carving out profitable niches for themselves. Retail has changed drastically, and if organizations are to survive in this alien environment, they'll need to…

Today we all love — and have likely used — curbside pickup at some point over the last two years. But let’s be honest: there's no reason retailers couldn’t have offered this a decade ago. As we take stock of the many changes to come out of the pandemic, one of the biggest in retail…

As competition for consumer wallet share intensifies and shoppers get more digitally savvy, retailers and brands are constantly on the lookout for tools to boost engagement, conversion and sales. There’s never a shortage of tools that claim to solve it all, but when done right, social proof messaging stands out. It's a great conversion booster…

After a two-year hiatus, close to 10,000 retail innovators joined forces in Las Vegas last month for Shoptalk. The much-anticipated event focused on the future of retail, highlighting new technologies, trends and business models. Shoptalk offered a variety of engaging speakers, from small startups to the biggest brand names in the industry, along with original…