Doing Better at Ominchannel Retailing: Video Tips

Posted on April 19, 2017 by bermanevansretail
Check out this video and paper on omnichannel marketing from BRP and Radial:
“Today’s customer is always connected and always on. Digital and mobile commerce have elevated consumer expectations of the shopping experience. She expects service anytime, anywhere, and any way she wants it. Retailers realize they need a different approach to enable a unified experience, one supporting the convergence of digital and physical worlds.”
“A unified commerce platform becomes a single consolidation point for all transactions, inventory, pricing, order management, CRM, call center, etc. This platform provides a single version of the truth across all channels to enable transparency, or the ‘glass pipeline’ of real-time visibility to inventory, product, and customer information. This is the nirvana, or end-state, that many retailers are trying to achieve with their customer experience and unified commerce goals. By moving the heart of the transaction, merchandising, and fulfillment activities to a centralized platform, retailers can allow their digital commerce applications to be more innovative and agile. This enables retailers to utilize their digital commerce offerings to contribute to the personal, ubiquitous, and unified experience that customers expect.”

 


 

Posted in 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 | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

More Bad PR for United: You Can’t Make This Stuff Up!!

Posted on April 18, 2017 by bermanevansretail
After its recent public relations nightmare, when it forcibly removed a passenger from a seat due to overbooking (overloading)  and dragged him from his seat, you would think that United Airlines would have learned its lesson. Social media and TV reports skewered United for its actions. Just this one video received more than 3.6 million views in a single week after the incident.
 

 
As a result of the continuing social media barrage — and after several PR missteps, United’s CEO finally issued a more consumer-oriented message to the public. As reported by Brandon Morse for THE BLAZE:
“United CEO Oscar Munoz has stated that in light of the recent deplaning debacle [on April 9, 2017], United Airlines will no longer use police to remove passengers from planes. In an interview with Good Morning America, Munoz stated that he felt ‘ashamed’ over how passenger David Dao was forcibly removed from the flight, and promised to review his company’s passenger removal policy. According to United spokesperson Maddie King, the passengers who witnessed the incident of flight 3411 will be reimbursed for the price of their ticket [if they sign a waiver against suing]. This news comes on the heels of the announcement that two more officers that were involved in the incident have been put on leave.”
From Fox News:
“That is not who our family at United is,” Munoz said. “This will never happen again on a United flight. That’s my promise.” In the future, law enforcement will not be involved in removing a “booked, paid, seated passenger,” Munoz said. “We can’t do that.”
So did CEO Munoz really mean what he said? You decide! On April 15, 2017, less than one week after the above incident, United removed two passengers on the way to their wedding. NPR’s Doreen McCallister reports that: “A couple flying to Costa Rica for their wedding were removed from a United Airlines flight in Houston on Saturday. The incident happened nearly a week after a video showing a passenger being dragged off a Chicago-to-Louisville flight went viral. Michael Hohl and Amber Maxwell are scheduled to get married on Thursday.“
 
Here’s a video clip from USA Today on this latest incident.
 

 
More!! The parodies of United Airlines are brutal. Here’s one example (recorded before the wedding couple incident).
 

 

Posted in Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional, Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 7: Communicating with the Customer, Social Media and Retailing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

These Survey Results Are Not Good for Retailers

Posted on April 17, 2017 by bermanevansretail
Retailers employ store-based salespeople to enhance the customer experience, answer questions and be knowledgeable about the goods and services offered, and to facilitate the purchase process. They want shoppers to believe that salespeople are fulfilling these functions.
Thus, the results of a new study from Tulip Retail (and highlighted by Chain Store Age) are not what retailers would like to see:
“Brick-and-mortar retailers are fighting harder than ever to remain relevant among digitally driven shoppers. This is not an easy task as 83% of shoppers believe they’re more knowledgeable than retail store associates — often due to the online research they conduct before entering a store, according to a new survey from Tulip Retail.”
“The good news is 79% of survey respondents said knowledgeable store associates are ‘important’ or ‘very important.’ Additionally, 64% of respondents believe physical retail locations will be part of the shopping journey in the future, which is welcomed news by retailers that are faced with headlines today questioning the existence of brick-and-mortar down the road, the report explained.”
“This ‘survey had some sobering findings that should keep executives of brick-and-mortar retailers up at night – including the fact that nearly 90% of respondents shop at Amazon and that store associates are not meeting customer expectations,’ said Ali Asaria, CEO of Tulip Retail.”
Click the image to read more.


 

Posted in Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 7: Communicating with the Customer | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment