Multichannel Integration Helps Retailers Keep Pace with the Way Consumers Shop All Year Round
The bottom line is that the consumer has spoken. Multi-channel shopping is here to stay. With the ability to shop anywhere at any time with any device, consumers are demanding excellence and consistency at every turn and are challenging retailers and brands to keep up.
No magic formula for multi-channel retail operations
There is no magic formula for a successful multichannel operation. Those retailers getting it right have a deep understanding of their customers. The leading multichannel players are those that truly understand their consumer appeal, and can then replicate that consumer experience across all channels, backing it up by seamless behind-the-scenes execution. Retailers that are able to lower their cost of ownership with an ecommerce platform will be able to leverage their investment in an integrated model across as many channels as they choose. (more…)
Holiday Inventory Management: Coping With Retail Seasonality
Holidays aren’t always so happy for a retailer with empty shelves of fast-selling items and overstocked rows of the not so popular ones. Inventory management is difficult enough all year round but it’s especially troublesome during the holiday season. It’s much easier to understand holiday inventory problems for a bricks-and-mortar store. But, with the advent of online shopping, these inventory challenges are compounded for both the traditional retailer and the online store.
Inventory Challenges: Why It Happens
Unless you’re a Mom-and-Pop store with limited product categories and SKUs, inventory problems for both online and real stores can be caused by:
- Unpredictable consumer demand Tight economic conditions don’t always mean a drop in consumer demand. Sometimes, consumers tend to splurge, especially during holidays. This makes inventory planning almost a matter of behavioral psychology. On top of that, there’s no accounting for consumer tastes. (more…)
Make sure all retail systems are GO for Black Friday and Cyber Monday
As with brick-and-mortar stores, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are critical days for B2C sales. Holiday e-commerce revenues account for up to 40 percent of annual sales for many companies. Be sure your website performs reliably on all types of browsers, mobile devices, etc., to maximize sales during these revenue intensive days.
Being proactive to prevent problems- its not too late
You are reviewing site operations daily to better understand the changes in traffic and to be proactive about solving problems before they turn into outages, delays, or worse yet inventory or supplier problems.
Online retailers must also focus on profiling and optimization for holiday readiness. Studies continue to show correlations between page load speeds and website responsiveness to increased revenue. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two days you want to be (more…)
Meeting Customer Expectations with Integrated Web Store Options
During Q1 2012, a commissioned survey of more than 500 consumers in the U.S., across varied income levels and ages, with an equal distribution of genders found that over 80 percent of the responders were more likely to become loyal customers to companies who provide an integrated multichannel experience and web store.
According to the survey, U.S. consumers are shopping a variety of channels and devices, often simultaneously, as new technology is introduced. Shoppers now routinely expect that their favorite companies will be accessible to them anytime, anywhere, via any channel. (more…)
Microsoft Dynamics & Sage Customers Can Set Up an Integrated eCommerce Web Store in Cyber Time
There are more options for creating an e-commerce site than ever before. E-commerce has made it possible for entrepreneurs to extend their reach farther than they could have ever imagined.
The fastest, least expensive way for Microsoft Dynamics and Sage users to launch a fully integrated online store is to connect todays leading web-based ecommerce platforms, like Magento Go or Shopify. These solutions are full featured, yet cost effective and when connected to Microsoft Dynamics or Sage using nChannel can automate item population, inventory synchronization, enable Microsoft Dynamics or Sage to collect web orders and even web customer data. (more…)
