User Experience

It’s November and most retailers have been planning for the holiday season for several months. As brick-and-mortar establishments continue to evolve to compete with online competitors, it’s critical that retailers focus on those consumers who still plan to do their holiday shopping in-store, and how they can provide them with an enjoyable experience that meets…

The world of retail was rocked last month when Toys"R"Us filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Many took it as a bad omen or the proverbial “last gasp” of a dying industry. Headlines of a “Retail Crisis” permeated the news cycle and analysts poured over the reasons why — with most of the blame directed…

With the threat of online shopping, brick-and-mortar retailers have been forced to embrace the importance of the experiential aspect of their stores to drive repeat foot traffic. It takes something really compelling for the average consumer to go to a physical store instead of ordering whatever they need from the comfort of their own home.…

There’s currently a sea change happening in retail. Toys“R”Us recently announced bankruptcy, and as part of its restructuring plan, the retailer will be closing stores after the 2017 holiday season. J.C. Penney closed 138 stores, with most closing at the end of July and a few remaining open until the end of September 2017. Macy’s…

There's no denying the massive shifts in the retail industry, but are retailers actually "retail revolution ready" to successfully engage with their customers? And no, “hello, welcome to the store” doesn't count! Retail, like most industries, is undergoing a transformation. The shopping experience is no longer a linear one, where a customer enters a store,…

Supposedly, Tori Spelling once said, “bad shopping habits die hard.” The "Beverly Hills 90210" actress was probably talking about her own shopping habits, but in a larger sense, Spelling, who helped personify consumerism in the 1990s, when the mall was king and Amazon.com was merely another dot-com, pretty much nailed today’s retail business, where bad habits…

Imagine a visitor on your website shopping for a winter jacket. As they explore your carefully curated selection, an advertisement pops up for the same jacket from a different retailer — and it’s on sale! Your prospective customer is likely to do one of two things — click on the ad and buy the jacket…

The future of retail? Personalizing the customer experience. It may seem obvious, but not all retailers are as tech savvy as they need to be to catch the attention of today’s millennial and Gen Z shoppers. For many retailers, the smartphone strategy was first. The industry advice was that retailers had to be at the…

Despite the traditional retail industry being beset by online competitors and margin pressure, here’s a bit of good news from a recent Capgemini report: More than 80 percent of consumers are willing to pay more for a better experience. However, that same study found that while 75 percent of organizations believe themselves to be customer…

Trustpilot, a leading online consumer review destination with 35 million reviews of nearly 190,000 businesses, recently released its Consumer Behavior and Expectations: The 2017 Holiday Season report, with in-depth analysis on consumer behavior, sentiment and customer review patterns. While thousands of consumers indicated pricing was one of the most important considerations for the 2017 shopping season, language analysis of more than 1 million consumer reviews suggested otherwise. Consumer sentiment favored brands offering superior customer service and timely fulfillment over other popular holiday initiatives, such as discount pricing and flexible return policies. The report helps retailers capitalize on key expectations and behaviors by identifying specific consumer trends, biases and preferences.