Technology

The U.S. Postal Service is dipping its toes into the digital waters, recently announcing plans to embark on several digital initiatives, starting with the formation of a new Digital Solutions Group (DSG) within its organization.

One of the pain points consumers typically associate with shopping for apparel and shoes online is the inability to try products on for size. The luxury of being able to try on a product before making a purchase decision used to be the exclusive domain of brick-and-mortar retailers, but that's no longer the case.

Home furnishings retailer Ballard Designs has launched Ballard+, an app that enables users to browse and shop the retailer's print catalog using image recognition technology. The free app, which features "tap-to-buy" shopping, product details and reviews, multiple image viewer, and social sharing, works with Ballard's December catalog. Shoppers hold their iPhone or iPad above the page of the catalog to activate the app and connect to the digital experience. A box encompasses each item on the page, wherein users tap for product information. A touch of the purchase button directs items in the shopping cart to ballarddesigns.com for checkout.

Disaster prevention and recovery for retailers, who need constant communication with the world at large, is key. While most people are busy protecting their homes and personal possessions in the face of a natural disaster, IT professionals have even more to worry about: namely, how to protect their companies' hardware from flooding or potential impact, and how to resume business with the outside world again after the storm or earthquake passes. Some parts of disaster recovery can be tackled last minute, but it's always wise to have specific procedures mapped out and well-rehearsed far in advance.

Target launched a new blend of entertainment and shopping this past October with a three-part series short film that simultaneously merchandises the complete outfit each actor is wearing. The user interface features the main target.com menu, a video player screen, the merchandised product list on the right side of the video and shopping cart favorites at the bottom of the video.

Although the customer service landscape has shifted over the past several years, the core tenet of keeping customers happy will never change. In the e-commerce sector, creating thoughtful online experiences for visitors will always increase conversion rates, attract repeat visits and generate long-term brand loyalty. One of the best ways to achieve this is through live chat.

It's official: more than half of Americans now own smartphones. The truth is, most of us probably would have guessed this figure to be much higher. The percentage is certainly growing, however, presenting a number of opportunities for retailers to engage with consumers on an individual basis and when they're most likely to purchase. But consider the flip side: slightly less than half of America, or about 155 million people, is still without smartphones. Instead of leaving them in the dust by focusing exclusively on mobile-only campaigns, retailers should seize the opportunity to close the gap by engaging both audiences where it matters most — at the point of sale.

When it comes to retailers, big data is perhaps a little too big. Half of retailers can't aggregate all their data in one place to make detailed reports and conclusions. Forty-five percent don't use available data to personalize marketing communications, and another 42 percent can't link data together at the individual customer level. That's perhaps understandable, because 90 percent of the data that's ever been created has been created in the last two years, and the rate of data growth is increasing quickly.

Every November, as retailers dig deep into their bag of tricks, battling each other and their online counterparts for your wallet, the demand for innovation often sparks collaborations with new startups and their novel technologies. For Best Buy, this means partnering with Nashville-based startup eco Interactive, which specializes in "card-linked offers." These are deals tied directly to customers' credit cards through partnerships forged with banks, such as Ally Bank and Fifth Third Bank, two of edo's current collaborators, which consumers can redeem just by swiping said credit cards.

Voice software is joining the migration to the Cloud, giving large, midsize and small retailers the opportunity to leverage the latest, most advanced technologies for optimizing warehouse operations. Cloud-based voice solutions help retailers more effectively receive, act on and communicate information critical to their business without requiring significant internal IT costs. Using internet connectivity, retailers can quickly implement voice software to improve business processes while bypassing the traditional up-front cost, time and resource commitments associated with on-premise solutions.