Omnichannel

Lots of design literature has been written to document e-commerce shopping best practices. User experience (UX) and user interface strategies, like checkout flows or microcopy, matter for increasing purchases. The role operations can play with improving conversion and revenue is often ignored because of its multiple levels of difficulty. Unlike a button, whose color can…

The COVID-19 pandemic has turned retail upside down. Pre-coronavirus, digital commerce was already outpacing overall retail growth. Services such as buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) were steadily increasing, but aside from grocery and select big-box retailers, curbside pickup wasn't even on the long-term road map for most retailers. Today, BOPIS and curbside pickup have…

COVID-19 has resulted in unexpected exponential growth in e-commerce and shifts in shopping. At the beginning of the pandemic, online or in-app shopping increased over 40 percent in the U.S., while trips to stores decreased over 50 percent. As time has gone on, however, consumers predict they’ll find some semblance of a return to normality,…

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, a diverse range of trends were beginning to reshape the economic landscape, with the steady rise of remote work, telehealth, and e-commerce upending old business models. With the arrival of the novel coronavirus, however, changes that had been unfolding more gradually have now been dramatically accelerated. To stay relevant in…

COVID-19 has fast tracked the adoption of emerging technologies in retail spaces, blurring the lines between traditional brick-and-mortar experiences and digital commerce. Where only a year ago we saw roughly 16 percent total penetration for e-commerce across sectors, we’ve now eclipsed 30 percent penetration, with certain categories meaningfully higher. This level of penetration represents a…

Brick-and-mortar retailers have been especially challenged throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to provide safe and frictionless in-store experiences for shoppers. In this video, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews John Goss, senior vice president and president of Sally Beauty Supply, to find out what the retailer has done to create a safe, enjoyable in-store shopping experience for its customers…

In episode 276 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Sean Kell, CEO of Blue Nile, the largest e-commerce retailer of GIA-certified diamonds and fine jewelry. Listen in as Kell discusses his career journey leading up to his joining Blue Nile last year, the company's recently announced store expansion plan, and why now is…

In Total Retail's fourth annual ranking of 100 leading retailers and brands based on their omnichannel capabilities — i.e., programs offered and the execution of those programs — which was produced in conjunction with Orckestra, an omnichannel commerce platform provider that unifies retailers’ e-commerce software, mobile commerce, and retail stores, the industry leaders at the forefront of delivering…

In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Kristina Stidham discuss Total Retail’s 2020 Top 100 Omnichannel Retailers report, which analyzes 100 leading retailers based on their omnichannel capabilities, including programs offered and the execution of those programs, and ranks them accordingly. This is the fourth annual report, and it evaluates…

Superior customer experience (CX) has long been understood by marketing teams as a driver of new revenue and business growth. However, brands must now re-evaluate strategies for meeting a shifting set of customer expectations. The ever-changing consumer is reflected in a new study from the U.S. Commerce Department, which found that e-commerce sales in Q2 2020…