Costco Plans E-Commerce Makeover
Do profitable brick-and-mortar stores need e-commerce? Costco Wholesale thinks so. The country's second-largest retailer has announced plans to overhaul its e-commerce operations, according to a recent report in the Seattle Times. Costco.com already does $2 billion in online sales, but feels like it's falling behind competitors like Amazon and Walmart. "The stakes are very high. The growth of e-tail is far sharper than the growth of retail in general,...read more >>
Can Social Gifting Give Retailers a Boost?
Dear Facebook Friends, Have you noticed I've been spending an unhealthy amount of time obsessing over the upcoming French presidential elections? And not nearly enough time shopping at H&M? A mobile gift card would help fix that. If you'd all chip in a couple bucks, I'd be well on my way to "paparazzi chic." Gifting for Cheapskates Ah, yes, social gifting. This e-commerce fad has been getting a lot of attention this week with the launch of Wrapp...read more >>
Internet Shopping On the Rise in 2012
It's only April, but the early signs show online sales in 2012 blowing the roof off of previous years. The recent Deloitte Retail & Consumer Spending Survey tells us that 47 percent of consumers will be buying more online this year. That's an increase of 38 percent from last year and 33 percent from 2010. Over half of those surveyed said that Internet shopping often provides better deals and lower prices than those found in brick and mortar stores....read more >>
Content Merchandising Roundup #13
Below is a summary of the week's most interesting content merchandising-related posts from Content Ping as well as from other blogs and news sites. Happy reading. FROM CONTENT PING: Content Syndication Series This week, our content syndication series wraps up with answers to frequently asked questions about syndication. E-COMMERCE: Most Shoppers Research Online Before Buying in Stores Four out of five consumers go online to research products before...read more >>
Showdown: Best Buy vs. Amazon and How the Brick-and-Mortar Can Still Win
While we may not yet be in the age of robots that clean up our messes or retina-engaged advertising, there's no denying that technology is changing our lives, especially the way we shop. And nothing seems to be more primed for rapid change than the intersection of e-commerce, mobile, and physical storefronts. Mobile and e-commerce continue to thrive and morph, but as my colleague Will said about those brick-and-mortar shops: "It's all doomed (I'm...read more >>
Walmart Struggles to Catch Its E-Commerce Rivals
Walmart is trying to light the fire beneath its "lagging e-commerce operation," according to a recent Bloomberg article. Over the past year, the world's largest retail chain has spent more than $300 million to acquire web-related companies, hired more than 200 people, and started an upgrade of its web platform. Yet there's still the feeling that Walmart.com has a lot of catching up to do. And they have to be quick about it, as Walmart.com is losing...read more >>
How to Mobilize In-Store Shoppers
Whether or not you believe the "mighty mobile" hype surrounding the future of mobile commerce, I can't be the only one out there who has personally witnessed the rise in smartphone-addicted in-store shoppers. Next time you visit Target, take note of all the shoppers with carts askew as they tap away on their iPhones. It's not even worth glaring at them as you squeeze past; they're too engrossed in pinning their patio furniture purchases to Pinterest....read more >>
Scan-and-Scram and Content Merchandising
It's known as "showrooming," and it is not something giggling hippies do in the woods. What I'm referring to is the growing habit of visiting a store only for the purpose of researching a product and with the intent of purchasing the item elsewhere for less--usually online. It's also called the "scan-and-scram." Regardless of which term you choose to embrace, you can add this activity to the list maladies plaguing brick-and-mortar retail (while benefiting...read more >>
Amazon Considering Brick-and-Mortar Strategy?
Seattleites love shopping local. And by "local" I mean browsing for $200 jeans at Nordstrom, downing 380-calorie drinks from Starbucks, lusting after titanium sporks at REI, stocking up on cases of imported fizzy water from Costco, and buying fighter jets from Boeing. So imagine the twitterpation over the rumor that our very own Amazon is planning to open a brick-and-mortar store inside the Seattle city limits. Apparently the e-commerce giant wants...read more >>
New Technology and the In-Store Experience
Before I jump into today's newsy topic of brick-and-mortar stores, content, and flexibility, here's a little tribute to our week's topic of QR codes: The emergence of QR codes and other new technologies has all kinds of implications for traditional brick-and-mortar retailers. How can physical stores adjust to a new era of technology-savvy consumers? Deloitte conducted a survey to find out. In their Store 3.0 report, they outlined how stores can begin...read more >>