The Growth of Apps in Retailing

Posted on February 8, 2017 by bermanevansretail
As we have reported before, mobile apps are booming in retailing — and this trend promises to continue for all types of retailers around the world.
Alexandra Kaufman reports for App Annie that:
“Retail apps flourished in 2016 — netting more downloads, revenue, and engaged users than ever before. Mobile earned 44% of retailers’ online traffic, totaling 31% of sales in 2016. We took a deep dive into the retail mobile economy as a whole in App Annie’s 2016 Retrospective. Specifically, we looked at the performance of bricks-and-clicks and digital-first retail apps, and the impact mobile holds on seasonal retail-heavy holidays.”
“Bricks-and-clicks apps are associated with companies that have a heavy brick-and-mortar presence such as Target and UNIQLO. Digital-first apps lend themselves to the opposite, and are associated with companies with a very prominent online presence such as Amazon and Wish. Across the six markets we analyzed — the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany France, South Korea and Japan — digital-first apps earned a higher number of sessions per month, with a faster growth rate as well.”

Click here to see App Annie’s full 2016 report. [Note: A free signup is required.]

 

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, Social Media and Retailing, Technology in Retailing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Value and Results of Live Chat

Posted on February 6, 2017 by bermanevansretail
As we have posted before, Live Chat has become a more valuable practice in the online retailer’s toolbox. So, where are we with Live Chat today?
  • James Arnold, Business to Community — “You’ll find that the benefits of using a live chat feature to provide real-time customer support to your valued shoppers are numerous. The ability to answer questions, provide useful information, and solve problems makes purchasing products easier and more pleasant for users. Keeping things convenient and enjoyable means your customers will be more likely to complete their initial transactions and make repeat purchases, as well as recommend your site to their family and friends.”
  • Craig Borowski, Software Advice — “Online live chat is proving to be one of the best service channels for meeting customers’ needs throughout their journey, from first contact through post-sale support. As an online tool, it meets customers in the very place they increasingly turn for answers: the Internet. And unlike other channels such as E-mail, live chat provides instant support, with minimal customer effort required.” These two charts show Borowski’s survey results about live chat.
  • Daniel James, Business to Community — “63% of customers are more likely to return to a Web site that offers live chat as opposed to one that doesn’t. 73% of customer satisfaction comes from live chat.  44% of customers feel that having a live chat specialist available during an online purchase is one of the most important features a company can offer. Most problems get resolved in 42 seconds – meaning you can help more customers, while your customers get the answers they need in the fashion they want. 79% of customers say that they prefer live chat because of the immediacy it provides. 42% of customers say not having to wait on hold is a key reason why they prefer live chat. Studies show that 77% of customers won’t make certain purchases if there’s no live chat support.”
  • Software Advice‘s   Customer Service Report 2017  — “Australia takes the gold in customer satisfaction in 2016 with 91.35% average satisfaction score as one of the biggest countries in terms of the number of chats.U.S. companies improved on their 2015 score with an average result of 90.84% for over 23.6 million chats in 2016.” These are live chat’s high and low usage months.

graph-monthly-growth-pure

  • 2016 Live Chat Benchmark Report by Comm100 — “The Comm100 live chat benchmark report explores (1) customer service metrics in live chat: customer satisfaction rate, wait time, chat duration, chats per month, and chats per operator per month; (2) what makes customers satisfied; (3) customer service metrics across industries; and (4) customer service metrics across countries.” Here is customer satisfaction by industry.

    live-chat

     

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

Ralph Lauren in Turmoil

Posted on February 3, 2017 by bermanevansretail
Less than two years ago, Ralph Lauren Corp. hired its first outside CEO, Stefan Larsson. Yesterday, Larsson and the firm announced that he would be leaving. What happened?
As reported by Suzanne Kapner for the Wall Street Journal:
“A dispute over creative control led Ralph Lauren Corp. Chief Executive Stefan Larsson to leave the struggling luxury fashion brand after less than two years at the helm. Mr. Larsson, a 42-year-old fast-fashion executive tapped to work alongside founder Ralph Lauren, said Thursday that the two men agreed the business needed to evolve but disagreed over the company’s creative and customer-facing strategies. Mr. Larsson said on a conference call with investors that his abrupt exit was a mutual decision.”
“Until a few weeks ago, all had been going well, according to a person familiar with the situation. Mr. Larsson had made strides streamlining the supply chain, with the help of new executives he hired, and Mr. Lauren was supportive of the progress he was making. Then, Mr. Larsson told Mr. Lauren that for him to be accountable for executing the business plan outlined in June, called “The Way Forward,” he would need control of the creative side of the business, which was Mr. Lauren’s domain, this person continued. Mr. Larsson argued that he needed the ability to hire and fire creative talent, this person said. Mr. Lauren, who has overseen the creative side of the business since he founded his label in 1967, was unwilling to cede that control.”

 

Take a look at this video clip from the WSJ. 


 

Posted in Part 1: Overview/Planning, Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional, Part 5: Managing a Retail Business, Part 6: Merchandise Management and Pricing, Part 8: Putting It All Together, Video Clips (non-career) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments