Fourth-quarter financials in 2017 demonstrate once again retailers walk a tightrope when it comes to driving sales and maintaining gross margins. Despite healthy sales increases in the fourth quarter, many retail executives felt the impact of a dynamic business environment that challenges retail companies on numerous fronts: New technology, evolving consumer preferences, digitalization, new competitors, etc. Attracting new customers and keeping loyal shoppers “in the fold” is never a fait accompli. Executives must manage both short- and long-term strategies across all their operations to maintain financial flexibility and remain relevant with consumers.
In the upcoming March/April 2018 issue of Retail Executive, I dedicate my Viewpoint article to voice commerce, a topic we’ll be covering more diligently as the technology progresses. As such, I caught up with Saeed Amidi, CEO of Plug and Play Tech Center and Retail Executive Editorial Advisory Board member to get his take on the progression of the technology and how retailers should utilize it.
Today, shoppers want to know exactly what they are buying, where it comes from and how it affects their well-being. According to a recent study by Label Insight, 76 percent of shoppers search online for answers when they cannot find information they are looking for on product labels. There is a desire to obtain information about the quality, the origin and the nutrition, and also the desire to support companies and products that reflect their own values and lifestyle.
Customer service has become a key component of the overall customer journey, and more critically, customer lifetime value. Therefore, retailers need to invest in service options to provide choice and convenience to customers.
Email is the simplest and most cost-effective way to reach consumers, delivering ROI of up to 3,800 percent. Yet, many receive a failing grade for their email marketing campaigns. Understanding the power of digital marketing to reach consumers can be a game changer for your business.
To build engagement and understand customers, you have to know who they are, what they want, and what’s important to them. The good news is, there is a lot of data to aid in this understanding.
Blockchain and cryptocurrency: the beloved buzzwords of the technology world. Due to their radical potential, these emerging technologies have been shrouded in doubt and confusion. Yet, even as awareness and adoption have steadily grown in recent years, many experts venture to call this silent revolution the fastest growing digital technology since the internet.
To keep pace with growing consumer expectations, retailers must be equipped with modern order management systems that greatly expand their fulfillment capabilities. However, many still lag behind. To gain insight into these challenges and retailers’ top priorities for a future OMS investment, Radial partnered with Incisiv to conduct a quantitative survey of retail executives spanning key business functions across the retail supply chain.
In the old days, consumers went shopping because they had to. However, thanks to a plethora of new options, consumers today must now be inspired to want to shop. To improve the customer experience, retailers are looking toward many different options, such as buy online pick up in store (BOPIS), click and collect and ship-from store. While convenient, these fulfillment methods have only further exposed the problem of out-of-stocks.
Let Radial handle the complexity and risk of payment processing, fraud management and tax compliance. Our fully outsourced solution turns orders into revenue, sends criminals running, keeps governments satisfied, and turns one-time shoppers into repeat customers.
Radial Fraud Zero delivers a best-in-class combination of people, processes, and technology for end-to-end fraud management. We are 100% focused on converting the highest percentage of transactions and keeping fraud well below industry standards to provide a frictionless experience for your customers. Our blending, cutting-edge technology with rigorous expert analysis translates into higher approval rates and happier customers.
Fourth-quarter financials in 2017 demonstrate once again retailers walk a tightrope when it comes to driving sales and maintaining gross margins. Despite healthy sales increases in the fourth quarter, many retail executives felt the impact of a dynamic business environment that challenges retail companies on numerous fronts: New technology, evolving consumer preferences, digitalization, new competitors, etc. Attracting new customers and keeping loyal shoppers “in the fold” is never a fait accompli. Executives must manage both short- and long-term strategies across all their operations to maintain financial flexibility and remain relevant with consumers.
Speed or customer service? Most shoppers face that choice when visiting a typical grocery store and head to checkout. Do they opt for the self-check lane instead of waiting in the full-service checkout line? What do consumers give up or gain with each choice? What do retailers gain or lose?
The H-1B visa is one of the most important immigration law options to employ foreign workers on a temporary basis, and because it is viewed as the option for skilled professional positions that require at least a bachelor’s degree (U.S. or foreign equivalent), technology companies typically hire more H-1B workers than any other sector. For experienced immigration practitioners, H-1B petition approvals have generally been considered to be routine, but the Trump administration’s attack on the H-1B visa petition has changed this long-standing perception.
Receiving an award is a thrilling experience for a retailer. What business would not want a third-party endorsement they can use to show customers and partners that their products and services are worth purchasing? Every award program is different, and there are a few key points that you should consider when researching award opportunities to maximize your potential return on investment.
In July 2015, Amazon’s iconic Prime Day online summer retail event made its first debut. Fast forward to 2018, and this year Amazon reports its fourth annual Prime Day surpassed all prior sales records in the e-commerce giant’s 24-year history – including every Black Friday and Cyber Monday – with Prime members ordering over 100 million products during the 36-hour sales event. What does this all mean for retailers, and how can they effectively compete? To examine shopper sentiment toward the event and how it’s reshaping purchasing behaviors, Periscope By McKinsey surveyed 3,000 consumers in the U.S., UK, France, Italy and Germany to understand their attitudes and actions during Amazon Prime Day 2018.
