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 >>
Engage and Educate Customers for Improved WOMM
Consumers are jaded. This is probably not news to you, but it's a fact that deserves your attention. To borrow from Public Enemy, we don't believe the hype. We tune out the thousands of advertising messages we encounter every day, and when we do pay attention we can usually see through them, meeting their overblown claims, promises, and emotional pleas with cynicism. With general skepticism surrounding consumerism, it's no wonder we rely more heavily...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 >>
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 >>
Sortable’s Christopher Reid: Leveraging Content to Provide Answers
Watch out, Google! Comparison shopping became a whole lot sexier with the launch of Sortable.com earlier this month. The decision engine makes it easy to sort through hundreds of laptops, for example, and find the one that exactly meets your needs and your budget. As we reported soon after its launch, Sortable also offers a social shopping experience that has the potential to revolutionize online product research and content merchandising. To...read more >>
Sortable Wants to Make Online Shopping Easier
Shopping search engines are not new, but the main contenders are still not exactly user friendly. Sortable.com is trying to change that. And--who would've guessed--they're focusing on presenting a full array of product features and educating consumers about those features. Sortable's navigation is definitely a step above, say, Nextag or PriceGrabber. It's also clear that the site was designed in the era of social media and crowdsourcing: Their "About"...read more >>
Smartphones: Friend or Foe?
As we've reported on numerous occasions, consumers are using their beloved smartphones to compare prices, check specs, and read product reviews--often right in front of the product in a store. A new survey from consumer electronics site Retrevo sheds a lot of light on the behavior of the ever-growing legions of smartphone-aided shoppers. The study shows that 66 percent of all shoppers have checked out a product in-store and gone on to buy that same...read more >>
Selling by Subscription and Optimizing for Mobile
You may have heard the phrase S-commerce, but in this case, I'm not referring to social commerce. I'm just making up my own word for what some are calling "lazy boxes" or "subcom"--subscription commerce. This is the option to sign up for regular delivery of something (monthly, for instance) and have products show up at your door, no further work required. Amazon has been offering this for a while. Companies specializing in the service include BirchBox,...read more >>
Fashion, ROPO, and More Proof in the Power of Images
We talked recently about the power of images, especially for fashion websites; we've posted many times here on the ROPO effect (research online, purchase offline); and we continue to keep our eyes focused on Facebook's foray into the e-commerce realm. Now comes a study that marries these concepts in a happy, monogamous ménage à trois, albeit Brit-style. True, we reported on this survey a few weeks back, but it's important enough to warrant a return...read more >>