Amazon’s New Pinterest-Like Offerings

Posted on August 17, 2013 by bermanevansretail
As we know, Amazon.com considers its mission to be “Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices.” Now, it wants to also be Earth’s most Pinterest-like retailer — by introducing Amazon Collections, where you can “see what other customers like, want, or recommend.”
According to Dana Kerr, reporting for CNET:
“Amazon seems to be taking some cues from the social network Pinterest. The E-commerce giant launched a feature on Thursday dubbed Amazon Collections, which lets users categorize shopping wish lists into different categories. While Collections has more of a lean toward shopping, it has the look and feel of Pinterest. Like Pinterest, which lets users ‘pin’ and categorize images of items they’ve found across Web, Collections lets people follow other users and add images to various lists. ‘Collections are a way to gather and share things you like, want, or recommend,’ the site reads. ‘Start a Collection to show off your unique style, or see what others have Collected on Amazon.'”
Click the image to read more.
Amazon Collections Screenshot by Dara Kerr/CNET

 

 

Posted in Online Retailing, 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

Retailing Revisited

Posted on August 15, 2013 by bermanevansretail
JWT Intelligence has just released an excellent new report entitled Retail Rebooted:
“Retail is undergoing a momentous shift, with brick-and-mortar stores forced to evolve for a digital-commerce age; multiple new ways to buy; the rise of data-based personalization; fast-changing consumer attitudes and habits; and various new technologies continuing to disrupt the status quo. This report touches on all these factors, bundling three trends we’ve outlined in recent years that are bringing key changes to the retail arena.”
Click the image to access the report.

 

 

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 8: Putting It All Together, Social Media and Retailing, Technology in Retailing | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

France’s Orchestra Using Technology to Save Out-of-Stock Losses

Posted on August 13, 2013 by bermanevansretail
Like many firms, French children’s apparel retailer Orchestra has had to deal with dissatisfied customers when store merchandise is out of stock. Now, it has come up with a solution.
As reported by SelfServiceWorld.com:
“Until recently, if a shopper needed a certain sized article of clothing or specific piece of furniture that was out of stock in a retailer’s store, they had to order it the old fashioned way — a sales associate would call the order in and contact the customer once it arrived. In the case of French retailer Orchestra, this process resulted in a high level of lost sales, since many customers would leave the store empty-handed and shop elsewhere for the item. But thanks to interactive retail technologies and the wave of kiosk applications, those days are quickly fading into oblivion.”
“Orchestra recently tapped the technology providers at IntuiLab to create an interactive application now deployed in five stores in France and planned for a future rollout to all locations in the country. The challenge is to create experiences that can scale, both in terms of store rollout and on-device performance, capture the unique characteristics of a brand and easily adapt to changes as the business changes. The application is hosted on a touchscreen kiosk that allows customers to scan a product barcode, pull up detailed product information about the item such as color, size and style, and place an order for in-store delivery if an item is not currently in stock.”
Click the image to read more.

 

 

Posted in Global Retailing, 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, Technology in Retailing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment