The State of Digital and Personalization in Retailing

Conversant recently conducted a study involving retail marketing executives:
“The digital opportunities and challenges covered in the study varied from the current role that digital plays in marketing programs to the burgeoning interest and importance of personalized one-to-one marketing. For the retailer, this study provides a benchmark for today’s attitudes and efforts compared to those of a cross-section of other retail industry leaders.”
“In addition, retail is often the ‘first mover’ in digital when it comes to programs with a strong likelihood of ROI impact. Thus, these findings are very relevant to marketers outside of the retail/E-tail sector.”
The slideshow below highlights Conversant’s findings.

 

Posted in Global Retailing, Online Retailing, Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional, Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Social Media and Retailing, Technology in Retailing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

TJX: A Master of Off-Price Retailing

TJX Companies Inc. considers itself “a global, off-price, value retailer.” Its divisions include T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, and Sierra Trading Post in the United States; Winners, HomeSense, and Marshalls in Canada; and T.K. Maxx in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, and Poland, as well as HomeSense in the UK.
As Beth Kowitt reports for Fortune:
“Is T.J. Maxx the best retail store in the land? The off-price chain has built a fantastically loyal following. How have they done it? We got inside the playbook of parent company TJX. Its annual sales — now $27.4 billion, or more than those of Estée Lauder, Hilton Worldwide, and Hershey combined — have risen 50% over the past six years. Its profits have almost tripled, to $2.1 billion. Its shareholders have been the beneficiaries of 18 consecutive years of earnings-per-share growth. In its nearly-four-decade history, it has had only one year of negative same-store sales. And it does all this by selling blouses…pots and pans…and bedding, sunglasses, sriracha seasoning, yoga mats, and the occasional $1,250 Stella McCartney dress.”
Click the image to read about how TJX does it.

 
http://fortune.com/2014/07/24/t-j-maxx-the-best-retail-store/

Photo for Fortune by Sam Kaplan; photo illustration by Fortune

 

Posted in Global Retailing, Online Retailing, Part 1: Overview/Planning, Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional, Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 4: Store Location Planning, Part 5: Managing a Retail Business, Part 6: Merchandise Management and Pricing, Part 7: Communicating with the Customer, Part 8: Putting It All Together | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

IBM’s 2014 Online Retail Holiday Readiness Report

As online and multichannel retailers intensify their already-underway preparations for the 2014 holiday shopping season, they should take a look at a new report from IBM.
According to the IBM report:
“A prosperous 2014 holiday season appears to be in store for U.S. online retailers. Shopping on retail Web sites continues to grow at a double-digit pace. Average order value (AOV) and items per order both rose to record highs over the past year. Soaring usage of smartphones and tablets has made online shopping accessible to consumers anytime, anywhere.”
“Yet, the holiday season presents just as many risks as opportunities. Paths to purchase are more convoluted and unpredictable than ever as consumers interact through mobile devices, E-mail, advertising, and social media. Consumer attention as reflected in such metrics as average time on site and page views per session sank to new lows over the past 12 months. So did the overall conversion rate.”
Click the image to access the full IBM report about 2014 online holiday shopping.

 

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Posted in Part 1: Overview/Planning, Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional, Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 5: Managing a Retail Business, Part 6: Merchandise Management and Pricing, Part 7: Communicating with the Customer, Part 8: Putting It All Together | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment