E-retailers must invest a lot more to keep customer loyalty 

by Don Davis 

Each year for the past decade a steady stream of consumers has flowed into the ranks of online shoppers, providing a natural lift for e-commerce. But that stream is slowing noticeably as the pool of consumers who have not shopped online shrinks each year, leaving online retailers with the challenge of increasing sales from existing customers.

Those customers are increasingly experienced, not only at shopping online but also at using the Internet in general. In growing numbers, they watch videos on YouTube, have pages on MySpace or profiles on LinkedIn, rely on reviews from other consumers, and read and post to online forums and blogs.

They expect retail web sites to be as informative and interactive as the rest of the Internet. And they won’t hesitate to click off a site if they don’t find what they want—and that includes not just products and product data, but other information they need to make purchase decisions.

Read the entire article at Internet Retailer.com

Contributed by Lisa Andrews http://www.coresense.com
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By Jeff Haggin

Most consumers feel like they’re on the receiving end of an endless bombardment of spam, pop-ups and other nasty online assaults. So its no wonder well-intentioned marketers have seen declining e-mail open and click-through rates.

Consumers have been conditioned to delete, look away and just carry on with their day. Online marketing can be a tough business, especially when other channels aren’t being used in concert.

People love getting catalogs in the mail—heck, Oprah even devotes an entire show to them. Catalogs support merchandise with rich photography and engaging editorial. They tell a brand story and stir up a desire to purchase. But with more transactions finishing online, the primary objective of catalogs needs to evolve to driving web traffic.

Read the entire article at Multichannelmerchant.com

Contributed by Lisa Andrews http://www.coresense.com
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If you’re selling through multiple channels, cross-channel retailing solutions can help provide your customers with a unified experience.

by Fiona Branton

Is cross-channel retailing the next wave in retail strategies? Most retailers and vendors of retail solutions agree that ‘cross-channel’ isn’t the same as ‘multichannel.’ While lots of retailers — from the biggest well-known chains to the one-location specialty store — are jumping on the multichannel bandwagon, few — if any — have yet to achieve true cross-channel retail success. What’s the difference? Multichannel is simply the strategy of selling product in more than one channel to different, or sometimes the same, customers, not necessarily having any connection or visibility among these channels. Cross-channel, on the other hand, is the strategy of sharing and selling product across different channels through to the same customer. The hallmark of true cross-channel selling is providing your customers with a consistent and unified experience across multiple channels.

Read the entire article at Integrated Solutions For Retailers

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Almost 30% of changes made to up-and-running e-commerce applications are unscheduled and considered emergencies, giving I.T. staff less time to determine what impact the changes may have, a new report says. What’s more, the report says e-commerce I.T. teams have no confidence in more than 15% of changes they make.

The emergency nature of such changes and the lack of confidence in them stems from the high stress and complex environment of e-commerce businesses and technology, says the report, “I.T. Operations Research Report: Testing Maturity, Part II—Applications and Operating Systems.” The report is from I.T. operations and testing vendor StackSafe Inc. and research firm Research Edge Inc.

Read entire article on InternetRetailer.com

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By Matthew Bandyk

Consumer confidence is in the dumps, and retail sales growth was anemic in the first three months of the year. But if you leave the mall and go online, you will find merchants who are feeling pretty good. Despite overall economic woes that are shrinking profits for many companies, the online retail sector just keeps growing. A report this month from Forrester Research and Shop.org, an arm of the National Retail Foundation, lays out the numbers: Online sales grew 21 percent to $175 billion last year, and the report forecasts 17 percent growth this year, to $204 billion.

Like Costco and Wal-Mart, which have also weathered the weaker economy, the Internet provides savings that have attracted cash-strapped shoppers. Scott Silverman, one of the researchers for the report and executive director of Shop.org, says, “The online retailers seem to be resilient to the economy at this time. There’s definitely some shift in spending from offline to online.”

Read entire article from U.S. News & World Report

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By Todd Mallett, RedPrairie

The urgency to “go green” has permeated the retail industry on everything from store lighting to packaging.

For instance, Tesco and other retailers are already working on carbon labeling that will record the amount of carbon dioxide emitted during the production, transport and consumption of the 70,000 products it sells.

But while the focus has been on energy conservation and recycling, retail’s elusive Holy Green Grail remains shipping. In the world of just-in-time delivery, the idea of offering green shipping options may seem to be anathema to a retailer’s traditional view of customer service. And it may even scare the wits out of inventory and transportation managers given the charge to make it happen.

But what if instead of just offering overnight, 2-day or ground shipping, a retailer could offer green shipping that saves dozens or even hundreds of pounds of carbon emissions that won’t be released into the air? In today’s Inconvenient Truth world, can you imagine the impact on the eco-friendly shopper buying products online who gets a message that says:

“Your order is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday. However, if you want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 100 pounds of CO², click here and your package will arrive on Thursday instead.”

Link to Complete Article on RIS News

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