This website uses cookies to improve your experience. By viewing our content, you are accepting the use of cookies. To find out more and change your cookie settings, please view our Privacy Policy.
From omnichannel to fulfillment to global trade, nine challenges facing retail supply chain executives
The pressure is rising for retailers to fine-tune their supply chains as they source and deliver more products than ever at an increasingly rapid pace across the globe. Retail supply chain executives are challenged on many fronts, from operations and…
Omnichannel Done Right: How Apparel Brands Stack Up
This article summarizes a recent research report on the state of retail omnichannel experiences. At the most basic level, when a retailer provides an omnichannel experience for customers, it means the customer should expect the same inventory, pricing, and returns…
E-shopping + Omnichannel Lead 2019 Retail Trends
Over the past four decades technology has seeped into consumers daily routines: it started with home PCs and laptops, then evolved to phones, and now watches and smart home displays and speakers are taking center stage. Continuing advances in AI,…
E-commerce + Brick & Mortar = Strong Holiday Omnichannel Sales
The retail industry received good news from the U.S. Census Bureau recently: year-to-date-retail sales through September 2018, excluding gas and auto sales, were up 4.1% from 2017. Rising sales are due to a number of factors, including consumer confidence, a…
Retailers Need to Measure Cost Impact of Returns as Part of Omnichannel Sales Process
(Picture credit: Ace Turtle) Major retailers adopt an omnichannel approach for three main reasons: to increase sales, increase market share, and improve customer loyalty. By using an omnichannel approach, retailers are making the online, mobile and in-store experiences universal for…
Grocery Retailers and Sustainability
As we continue forward in the full swing of the holiday season, many questions are up in the air when it comes to celebrations. We’ve covered what Black Friday will look like in terms of sales and the greater retail…
The Rise of Grocery E-commerce and Returns
Grocery e-Commerce as a temporary change… As a global pandemic and quarantine swept the world, consumers fled to grocery stores to stock up on essentials. Then ensued the shortage of items like toilet paper and hand sanitizer, and purchases of…
For Retailers, $42B in Returns Is the Downside of Doing Big Business This Holiday Season
After a rough few years marked by frantic digital disruption, many traditional retailers are finally getting a handle on omnichannel selling. But as total online sales hit an estimated $138.5 billion this holiday season, up by 13.5% from last year, retailers taking…
How Retailers Can Guard Against Serial Returners
According to research conducted by Brightpearl, an omnichannel retail management software company, 44 percent of United States retailers have seen an uptick in serial returns over the last year. Serial returners—those who frequently buy and return clothing or merchandise—can wreak…
The growing problem of customer returns
The rate of customer returns for goods bought online is swelling to a worrisome level as more consumers switch from physical stores to online. The cost to online retailers is substantial. According to research firm Statista, in 2017 total U.S.…
2019 CPG Consumer Confidence Report
A February 2019 consumer confidence report published by IRi summarizes research findings for e-commerce retail sales. This post will focus on the grocery and CPG portions of the report. Download the PDF: Consumer Confidence Reflected in E-commerce Growth. Quick Facts:…
How E-commerce Continues to Grow
Quick fact: e-commerce represented 14.5% of total retail sales in the fourth quarter of 2018 (source: U.S. Census). Great American’s Retail Monitor March 2019 (PDF) issue focused on the continuing growth of e-commerce and how Amazon’s marketplaces are forcing retailers…