The Retail Online Integration Staff

With 2015 nearly upon us, the staff here at Retail Online Integration (ROI) thought it would be a good idea to first look back before looking forward. With that in mind, we've compiled a list of the 10 most popular content pieces — articles, blogs, videos, podcasts — from this year based on total number of page views. The list encompasses a diverse mix of topics, including some of the newer, hipper retail technologies such as Apple Pay contrasted with a traditional stalwart such as catalog marketing. This is your chance to dig into the topics and issues that were most relevant to you this year. Enjoy!

We're excited to bring you our list of the 100 fastest-growing omnichannel retailers for the 2013 fiscal year. To compile this year's list, we researched 2013 fiscal year net sales figures for all the public retail companies in the U.S. and Canada. We then compared those numbers to the previous fiscal year's net sales. After we calculated the percentage change year-over-year, we ranked each company in descending order to arrive at our top 100. We've also included select profiles that highlight specific companies on the list. Enjoy!


Rounding up the year's best tips to help you optimize your business.

A move away from online channels and toward physical spaces — e.g., pop-up, outlet and brick-and-mortar stores — to market products is trending for Retail Online integration readers, at least according to this year's Annual Trends Survey. They'll also rely more on television, digital catalogs and social media this year to increase consumer engagement and ultimately grow sales. Their biggest challenge? For the third year in a row, customer acquisition.

Welcome to Retail Online Integration's third annual list of the best and brightest women in the cross-channel retail industry. The women highlighted on this list are marketing and merchandising professionals, e-commerce experts, and chief executive officers at cross-channel retail companies of all sizes. They've all helped to position their companies to succeed in today's fast-paced cross-channel retail environment.

Despite rumblings that social media is losing its value and cache as a marketing tool (or commerce or customer service tool) for retailers — let the debate rage on — there are plenty of brands that are investing their time and money in the channel. The common refrain that you hear from all of them is that they seek better engagement with their customers and prospects, and social media can play a significant role in helping them accomplish that. In that vein, Retail Online Integration has compiled its second annual ranking of the top 50 fastest-growing Facebook retailers — with a twist this year.

The ability to quickly and accurately fulfill customers' online orders is a task that many retailers struggle with. The consequences of not doing so are severe, most notably frustrated customers who won't return to shop with your brand. Follow these seven tips to provide customers a better shopping experience, all the way through delivery:

Retailers are increasingly taking advantage of the global reach of the internet to sell to international consumers. Along with that growth opportunity comes the challenge of making sure your packages get to your international customers. An international order not reaching its final destination not only means the loss of the goods but also a chargeback fee (i.e., loss of money) and, worst of all, a very upset customer.

Cross-channel retailers have heard for years that catalog marketing is no longer practical. It's too expensive and not a sales driver is the line that's repeated. There are hundreds of companies that would argue otherwise, however. When managed properly, a catalog marketing program can still be very profitable. Here are two tips to help your catalog marketing program reach profitability:

Retail Online Integration presents its second annual ranking of the fastest-growing cross-channel retailers based on year-over-year sales. Find out if your company — or one of its competitors — made the list. 

Armed with the knowledge that consumers are more comfortable and willing to make purchases online than ever before, retailers must take the next step and take advantage of this trend. Here are seven tips to help you get on the right track:

Traditional marketing channels are the name of the game for Retail Online Integration readers, with most increasing their focus on email and search marketing in 2012, at least according to this year’s Annual Trends Survey. They’ll also rely on social media, affiliate and video marketing more this year to increase consumer engagement and ultimately grow sales.

A compilation of this year’s best and brightest ideas in our annual 50 Best Tips issue.

No other marketing vehicle offers the combination of context, locality and actionability that mobile does. The rapid adoption of smartphones is obliterating any limits on this interaction. Consumers are all over them, and you can legitimately speculate that mobile technology might replace the personal computer as we know it in the near future.

Which retailers had the biggest increase in Facebook 
fans between August 2010 and August 2011? What’s 
the secret to their success? Read on ...