Omnichannel

Smart brands are looking for new ways to beat their competition and succeed in this changing retail industry. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (WSI) is leveraging its best competitive advantage — its network of stores — to give customers an enhanced shopping experience across its portfolio of brands (Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, and West Elm). Williams-Sonoma, Inc. recently introduced…

Home Depot is having a a great year. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports the home improvement retailer's sales are up 6.2 percent from the same quarter a year ago. Home Depot's profit for the quarter was $2.7 billion, up from the net earnings of $2.4 billion a year earlier, and the highest quarterly profit the…

Many are calling this the retail apocalypse. Recent reports estimate over 8,600 retail locations will shut down in 2017. By comparison, 6,200 retail stores closed their doors during 2008’s economic downturn — an all-time high at the time. Retailers like The Sports Authority have vanished, and others are quickly realizing the same fate: Gander Mountain,…

2017 has been a whirlwind of a year for retailers to say the least, with most of the conversation surrounding how brands need to think digitally first. However, this morning in a panel discussion at eTail East, Drew Green, CEO of Indochino, a made-to-measure menswear company, ended the session with a telling statement. “I think…

As we all know, retail and consumer goods companies are struggling to adapt to the growing market pressures coming from consumers and their competitors. In order to stay competitive with the explosion of omnichannel and the sheer muscle of powerhouses such as Amazon.com, companies will need to run their supply chains better, faster and cheaper…

In e-commerce, your homepage is who you are. It’s prospective customers first impression of you. Visitors will decide to either do or not do business with you based on their experience with your homepage. Considering that the homepage usually gets a disproportionately larger amount of traffic than any other page on your website, it would…

In the wake of Amazon.com’s June acquisition of Whole Foods, retailers were left pondering the deal’s broader impact on the industry’s future. Paramount to that discussion is the future role of the physical store in a successful omnichannel retail organization. The pessimism around department store closures and traditional retailers declaring bankruptcy has seeped into our…

As consumers continue to incorporate technology into every aspect of their lives, it’s become abundantly clear that digital is in the driver’s seat. While technology may streamline and modernize the consumer’s retail journey, it’s vital for automation to be convenient and personalized to lay a foundation for consumers looking to seamlessly integrate state-of-the-art retail experiences…

As consumers continue to incorporate technology into every aspect of their lives, it’s become abundantly clear that digital is in the driver’s seat. While technology may streamline and modernize the consumer’s retail journey, it’s vital for automation to be convenient and personalized to lay a foundation for consumers looking to seamlessly integrate state-of-the-art retail experiences […]

In episode 104 of Total Retail Talks, recorded at the Total Retail Talks Live! event in Seattle, Peter Francis, vice president of digital growth and acquisition for T-Mobile, discusses the role brick-and-mortar stores will play in the company's future. Francis addresses how T-Mobile views omnichannel retail, and what the company is doing to execute on…