Express Is on the E-commerce Fast Track

Posted on March 19, 2014 by bermanevansretail
Express has been an online innovator for quite a while, especially with social media. The retailer has more than 4.5 million likes on Facebook — where it regularly offers special deals and products for sale. During 2013, its E-commerce revenues rose by 15 percent.
Now, Express plans to grow its E-commerce business even more. As reported by Daniela Forte for Multichannel Merchant:
“Michael Weiss, chairman and CEO of Express, said that there are plans in place to invest in higher targeted marketing efforts for social media, digital, and mobile tactics. ‘We continue to invest in this area and while we don’t see any need to set a new target, we once again expect E-commerce to deliver double-digit growth in 2014.” To support the growth in 2014,  there are plans in place for a variety of Web site enhancements as well as  enhancements to the mobile platform.”
“According to Weiss, a different phase of these uptakes completed their progress towards being a true omnichannel retailer. Store locations  are already ordering online to fulfill customer requests or items not available in a particular store, according to Weiss.  The company’s next shift will be from stores with an ultimate objective to one universal view of the inventory, so that turns can be maximized, marked down, minimized and customer orders filled more quickly.”

 

Posted in Online Retailing, Part 1: Overview/Planning, Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional, Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 6: Merchandise Management and Pricing, Part 7: Communicating with the Customer | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

What Are the Most Important Factors for Multichannel Shoppers?

Posted on March 17, 2014 by bermanevansretail
As more retailers embrace multichannel operations, it is important for them to determine the key factors that drive multichannel shoppers.
According to eMarketer: “Omnichannel efforts are important, but not necessarily a top priority for retailers. In a Shop.org survey conducted by Forrester Research in Q4 2013, just over one-quarter of respondents considered things like new order management systems and in-store pickup to be leading initiatives for 2014. These capabilities ranked fourth behind mobile (53%), site overhaul (46%), and marketing (36%).”
Take a look at the following chart based on Forrester’s research with regard to the importance of various services to multichannel shoppers in a number of countries. Click the chart to read more from eMarketer.

 

Posted in Global 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 , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Retail Strategy Lessons from McKinsey & Co.

Posted on March 16, 2014 by bermanevansretail
McKinsey & Co., the world-renowned consulting firm, has published a lot of information about the field of retailing.
Most recently, McKinsey’s Peter Breuer, Thierry Elmalem, and Chris Wigley have written an in-depth piece on the need for many companies to engage in a retail turnaround (reinvention). According to Breauer, Elmalen, and Wigley:
“More than 50 retailers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa have been in distress since the global financial crisis, and many are in distress today. Some are in denial about their situation; others are busy fixing the wrong problems. Over the past few years, sales growth at the top publicly listed European retailers has been a mere one or two percentage points above inflation; average EBIT margins have dropped to around 0.5 to 1.5 percent of sales. The short- to medium-term forecast doesn’t suggest any respite from these gloomy numbers. Changing consumer lifestyles and preferences, the Internet, and continued economic uncertainty are putting pressure on — and, in some cases, causing financial distress among — many traditional retailers.”
“There are broadly two types of distressed situations a retailer can face. One is a cash or liquidity crisis, requiring immediate cash-management and debt-restructuring measures. The other, which is trickier to detect, consists of a set of issues that may not threaten immediate bankruptcy but pose fundamental challenges to the sustainability of the business model. In this article, we discuss how to recognize —and emerge victoriously from — the second type, an undertaking we refer to as a ‘distressed turnaround.’”
 Click the image to read more from this report.

 

 

Posted in Global Retailing, 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 , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments