Omnichannel

After 2020’s big shift to e-commerce and a year’s worth of rising expectations for customer experience (CX), what’s the state of CX in digital commerce now? It’s a question worth asking because 87 percent of companies say they’ll compete on CX this year. Meanwhile, the ways that people can buy online keep evolving, which means…

In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Ashley Chiaradio and Kristina Stidham discuss an article recently published by Total Retail Report, “5 Things Holding You Back From Making Omnichannel Retailing Profitable,” authored by Steve Ross, omnichannel solution principal at Aptos. Retailers are struggling to manage a multitude of enterprise impacts, ranging from planning to…

After a year of social distancing, quarantines, and Zoom calls, it's no wonder people are yearning for human contact and physical experiences more than ever. In fact, 25 percent of online shoppers agree that online shopping is less satisfying than visiting a brick-and-mortar store, according to Kantar’s COVID-19 Barometer. However, the brands that thrive moving…

The fact that promotions can drive sales is probably as old as commerce itself. However, in a digital-first, e-commerce world, the role of promotions has broadened. In addition to the effect on sales, promotions can also influence purchase timing, which has knock-on implications for fulfillment and the customer experience. This connection was revealed by a recent study of…

As part of the 2020 Merchant Gift Card Omnichannel Evaluation, NAPCO Research, in conjunction with Blackhawk Network, conducted a comprehensive analysis of 100 leading merchants' gift card programs. The evaluations consisted of a thorough assessment of the consumer gift card purchase and recipient experience across multiple channels, including in-store, desktop e-commerce site, mobile website, and mobile…

Now more than ever, retailers must have the right inventory in the right place for consumers to purchase in the channel of their choice. As e-commerce transactions have surged since the start of the pandemic, ship-from-store and buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) fulfillment have been on the rise, adding to this complexity. With stores…

Pre-COVID, we saw the impact of online consumer demand growing and behavior adjusting, but brands often had time to analyze how they wanted to respond to it and when. Once the world shut down from COVID, that power quickly transitioned to the consumer, with brands forced to adjust almost immediately if they wanted any opportunity…

Buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) might just be the best long-term strategy for brick-and-mortar retailers. Allowing customers to purchase items online and pick them up curbside or in-store accommodates prevailing consumer demands: safety, efficiency, and convenience. BOPIS will soon be a standard feature of most, if not all, brick-and-mortar operations. Virtually every major retailer…

In this bonus episode of Total Retail Talks, Digital Content Director Kristina Stidham interviews Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan about Total Retail's recently published report, How-To Guide for Doing BOPIS and Curbside Pickup Right. Listen in as Keenan shares a few key highlights from the report, why consumer adoption of omnichannel fulfillment programs figures to continue post-pandemic,…

To survive and succeed in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, retailers quickly adapted to meet customers' priorities and needs. Convenience became a touchstone of our "new normal," defining how, when, and where we shop. This trend will continue to be a hallmark of how consumers and retailers engage in the future. A recent report…