The buzz about the threat of mobile/e-commerce to physical stores has at times echoed "All About Eve," with "thumb shopping" playing the role of the ingénue poised to outshine those brick-and-mortar has-beens. But mobile shopping will actually have the opposite effect, according to Matt Moog, CEO of PowerReviews, which bills itself as a "Consumer Engagement Engine" that helps companies connect shoppers at the moment of purchase to drive sales.
The online grocery delivery business seems to get more crowded - and more competitive - by the minute. Tech giants Google and Amazon.com are offering it in some major cities, and so are upstarts such as Instacart, Postmates and FreshDirect. These newcomers are battling with more established businesses such as Peapod, which has been delivering groceries for more than 20 years, and services from companies such as Wal-Mart that allow customers to place orders online and pick them up at a nearby store.
As the volume of business-to-business purchases being made online continues to grow, B2B suppliers are responding by expanding their e-commerce platforms and overall omnichannel capabilities, according to new research from Accenture and hybris software, an SAP company.
Its name suggests a narrow focus on office supplies, but United Stationers Inc. is far more than a wholesale distributor of copy paper, notebooks, pens and staplers. The $5bn-plus company also supplies janitorial and breakroom supplies, provides industrial equipment to the welding, oil field and building construction industries, and has a major - and increasing - focus on helping thousands of resellers sell online to their business end-customers.
In a first in the athletic footwear and apparel space, Foot Locker has started a trial of same-day/next-day delivery at five stores in California, with plans to roll it out at its 1,300 locations across the U.S. and Canada should it prove a success. This includes all the company's brands: Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Foot Action and Champs.
Staples says it is enhancing its omnichannel experience, including the ability to buy products online and pick them up in-store within hours, an easier way to pay online called Visa Checkout, new in-store kiosks and, for the first-time ever, an iPad app.
The digital revolution is penetrating the consumer packaged goods space more and more, says a report that highlights how CPG companies can best position themselves for growth and unlock digital and e-commerce opportunities.
Macy's is putting its money where its mouth is, promising to invest up to $1bn in technology and infrastructure to support online and omnichannel efforts.
As retailers look ahead to the holiday selling season, e-commerce platform provider Volusion predicts that online sales during the holiday season will grow 9 percent compared to last year for small- to medium-sized businesses.
Designer-brand online furniture retailer Made.com is employing a solution provided by CloudTags that includes supplying shoppers with tablets so they can access information via Near Field Communication (NFC) RFID tags attached to furniture on display at the company's London showroom. The solution enables visitors to create a wish list of products they like, for later review, and uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons to allow the retailer to track which areas of the showroom shoppers visit, and the amount of time they spend at each location.
