Personalization

The pandemic drove e-commerce to new heights, increasing pressure on retailers to get ahead of changing consumer behaviors. However, delivering e-commerce systems that provide a competitive advantage is one of the toughest challenges facing retailers today. The role of data — and the ability to offer personalized retail experiences — is increasingly critical, especially a requirement…

In episode 389 of Total Retail Talks, which was recorded at the National Retail Federation Big Show earlier this year, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Linh Calhoun, chief marketing officer of Replacements, the world's largest retailer of vintage and current tableware, silver and estate jewelry. Listen in as Calhoun provides an overview of the Replacements business (0:46), her…

As we move deeper into the new year, an economic downturn is upon us, resulting in brands having tighter budgets with higher expectations. 2023 is set to see brands truly evaluating endeavors based on returns, which in turn may affect decisions to engage in projects that don’t have a measurable return on investment.  Here's how…

Personalization is all around us — in our emails, our social media feeds and even in our shopping carts. In fact, Merkle found that nearly 90 percent of consumers enjoy receiving personalized offers, and those same shoppers were willing to provide more information to retailers in order to achieve a positive, personalized experience. Similarly, an…

Picture this: It’s Cyber Monday and each member of the Smith family has decided to buy a new pair of sneakers to wear on the family’s upcoming vacation. Mom knows the exact brand, style and color she wants, and she needs her shoes delivered in two days or less. She pulls out her tablet and…

For technical leaders in e-commerce, it's all about the money. More so than in almost any industry, software development decisions in e-commerce need to be justified from a revenue perspective. With many companies implementing hiring freezes, and as budgets tighten ahead of an "e-commerce winter," allocating limited technical resources is more important than ever. From…

Retailers of all sizes have had more than their fair share of struggles this past year. From supply chain issues to high inflation trends, most are just trying to stay afloat and have hardly thought about how to improve their customer experience at scale. However, one thing is for certain — many small and midsize…

The most wonderful time of the year is quickly approaching. Prior years might have had a somewhat leisurely “brush a leaf off your sweater/carve a pumpkin/get ready for the holiday season” rhythm. However, this year, the holidays begin … now. That’s a combination of careful consumer behavior from last year (when according to the National…

Although Google is pushing back its plan to eliminate third-party cookies to the latter half of 2024 (from 2023), advertisers and marketers are still scrambling to figure out how they’ll track website visitors and create personalized experiences without this critical tool. The key to a great consumer experience is data, and this change will be…

Black Friday is famed as the inaugural event for the holiday shopping season with retailers already beginning to squeeze an average of 20 percent to 40 percent of sales into the last two months of the year. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic when many chose to forgo their typical holiday traditions, the retail industry still…