Analytics

Hear how BuildDirect used growth hacking, specifically conversion optimization, to increase revenues by more than $1 Million per month.

Approximately $4 billion worth of merchandise will be abandoned in online shopping carts this year, according to a recent Business Insider Intelligence report. Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores (SHOS), a seller of home appliances, hardware and tools, is recouping some of those lost sales by letting customers bid on how much they're willing to pay for an item.

In 2010, Rudd Davis helped start a business that developed a technology platform to let hotels deliver personalized content to guest phones. At the same time this was happening, Davis and his parents bought a century-old country store in their small Vermont town. "I helped my parents buy the store and realized there were many of the same issues and customer dynamics at play in their little store as there were in the largest hotels," he said. "I wanted to understand how many people came into the store, where they went when they were there, what they bought."

Q: "When PLAs were free, our company was king. Now that they're paid, we can't figure out how to crack the code and get PLA visibility. Any best practices around getting the most out of PLAs?" — Jackie Eldridge,  director of social media and affiliate 
marketing, DollarDays.com

The ability to better understand customer buying behavior, and then being able to actually use that knowledge to create optimized (i.e., personalized) marketing campaigns, is a key differentiator for retailers in today's hypercompetitive market, particularly when it comes to reaching and communicating with consumers online. 
With this in mind, Macy's has invested in a predictive analytics solution from SAP. The national department store chain, and specifically its e-commerce operation, Macys.com, deployed SAP's InfiniteInsight solution in the first quarter of 2014.

By 2017, 50 percent of all U.S. retail sales will be omnichannel. Enabling agile commerce is table stakes for your business. But who will drive these initiatives? Research shows that retailers expect the CFO to spearhead e-commerce. So, how will you demonstrate the return on investment of omnichannel fulfillment to your CFO? Sign up for this informative webinar and learn how to gain your CFO's endorsement on implementing industry-leading omnichannel initiatives that blend the best of online technology with offline fulfillment. You'll learn how to:

• leverage intelligent order routing logic;
• optimize your return policies and procedures; and
• prioritize financial sales attribution.

An everything guide on how to be a successful omnichannel retailer in 2014

Last week while traveling I found myself in line at a Starbucks. The woman behind the counter knew just about every customer's name and, amazingly, what they wanted. For example, she would say, "Hi Stacy! An extra-hot caramel macchiato with soy?" I made that up, but you get the idea; she knew her customers and their preferences. People like that barista are worth their weight in gold in the retail world.

Unless you have a content-first website like The New York Times or a juggernaut of a blog like TechCrunch, people don't come to your site for content. Don't misread that: some of your visitors may well consume some of your content, but most of them don't visit your website with the intention of reading. Nielsen indicates that users have time for about 20 percent of the content on your page, which affirms that the majority of users don't read. Rather, they scan.