Latest retail management news:
For stores today, omni-channel retailing is no longer a lofty goal. Emerging technology and mainstream mobile devices are making the seamless integration between online and physical stores not only a reality, but a requirement.
A recent article on The Guardian website highlights this trend. Technologies like radio-frequency identification (RFID) and near field communication (NFC), along with the rising use of smartphones and tablets, is making omni-channel retailing more achievable and important than ever before.
And yet many retailers still aren’t ready. They don’t have the right infrastructure. In fact, many still have mainframes. How can you take advantage of these new technologies with an aging architecture? It’s all about the flow of information. It’s one thing to have all of this data, but what are you going to do with it?
Retailers need a flexible, extensible environment to leverage these advances in technology. The good news is that a lot of these technologies are cheaper than they once were. Sure, retailers might have to bite the bullet and throw out their old infrastructure, but it will be worthwhile in the long run.
The article takes a look at how other retailers are moving ahead. For example, one national U.S. retail chain plans to have RFID in all of its locations this year. Customers will be able to purchase items at self-serve stations and through their mobile devices, cutting costs for checkout transactions.
It’s just one example of how retailers are making changes to “enhance the retail formula.” Retailers must provide convenient ways for customers get store information and share their shopping experience. It’s a lot like “the good parts of e-commerce, with all the fun and tactile richness of real life thrown in,” the article notes.
If omni-channel retailing is your goal, The Guardian article recommends three ways to make it happen.
- Spread digital operations across the organization: Too often, the digital operations work in “silos.” This prevents retail or other departments from taking full advantage of omni-channel retailing opportunities.
- Invest in technology: Some retailers have held off on implementing more digital capabilities due to high implementation costs. But the costs are dropping rapidly.
- Explore opportunities today: Keeping up and preparing for digital developments requires a long-term plan. Start planning today. Retailers should explore what they can do now to connect with their customers via multiple channels.
Source: The Guardian, February 2013
The rate of late credit card payments is at a 17-year low, which appears to be another sign that consumers are still tightening their belts. Four factors contributing to this are less consumer debt; credit is harder to get; more people are paying their credit card bills, and more people are using to pay their credit bills instead of their mortgages.
Mike Michalowicz, author of “Toilet Paper Entrepreneur,” says there are two questions you must be asking yourself every 90 days: “What have I done in the last 90 days that is bringing in results?” and “What have I done in the last 90 days that is not bringing in results?” “You can’t go wrong,” Michalowicz said.
Much to the relief of retailers around the nation, this year’s back-to-school season went better than expected, thanks to swarms of consumers hitting the stores in July, taking advantage of promotions on apparel, electronics and school supplies. According to the National Retail Federation, retail industry sales in July increased 0.3 percent seasonally adjusted from the previous month and 4.0 percent unadjusted year-over-year.
Once in a while, customers actually get it: Prices for raw materials, shipping and labor are going up and thus clothing costs must follow. No one understands this inflation increase better than people who buy Tommy Hilfiger and Levis. The retailers recently announced that its profit would approach the high end of its projections this year after raising prices.
Groupon, LivingSocial and the dozens of daily deals sites may have managed to do the impossible: make consumers tired of all the bargains. Although the websites were enticing enough for millions of subscribers to sign up for the sites, retail experts say they went too far and saturated the market.
Some retail experts say tablets can help retailers focus the shopper’s attention on the product rather than the price. Other experts, however, aren’t quite so sure about that. Siva Kumar, CEO of TheFind, says that tablets have the potential to put some of the power back into a retailer’s hands. Retail experts from Avanade totally disagree.
With 40 million Americans employed in retail, Congress needs to advance a strong jobs agenda that includes corporate tax reform, visa reform and passing free-trade agreements, NRF officials said recently. According to the latest jobs numbers, the U.S. added 117,000 jobs in July. Of those, retailers added 26,000, second only to the health care industry.
Thanks to Groupon, LivingSocial and other social discount sites, couponing has officially become the next big thing. According to a recent “hot or not” survey, six in 10 adults say extreme couponing is popular now, and nearly three-quarters of women and moms say they are paying attention to the trend.
If you want to succeed in online retailing, you have to play by search engine rules. SEO isn’t new but it’s something that Motorcycle Superstore has recently mastered. By keeping tabs on the actual words people use when searching and changing their site to reflect them, they’ve seen their sales increase 4-5 percent on their customized landing pages.
Cotton surged to historic highs this spring but plunged nearly 40 percent last month. Although that sounds like good news, the retailers and clothing manufacturers that overbought during the high prices are going to get creamed by those who waited, said retail experts at Avanade. Those who waited will have a lower product cost, forcing everyone else to slash prices.
As package sizes at grocery stores continue to shrink while prices continue to surge, food shoppers are increasingly turning to private-label and store brand products, a new survey shows. The “pay more, get less” scenario is just not OK anymore. The survey also found that shoppers are using smartphones to price check and get product information.
