Customer Retention

With reports swirling about the uncertain future of the retail industry, retailers are working to stand out in a highly competitive market, deciphering what customers really want from the brands they interact with, and delivering those things in a timely manner. While determining what consumers want may seem daunting to retailers, according to a recent…

Kmart’s new apparel ad campaign is all about celebrating — not marginalizing — “plus sized” women, while putting that full-figure label to rest for good. Kmart’s new "I Can” ad push fetes women of all shapes and sizes and marks the expansion of its signature brands (e.g., Joe Boxer, Basic Editions, Jaclyn Smith) to larger sizes…

Retailers are investing in technology and resources to improve customers’ experiences as their online shopping expectations increase. This is particularly true in the age of Amazon.com, which has made personalization, one-click purchasing and same-day delivery commonplace. Over the summer we've been reviewing Total Retail and IBM's recent report, The Amazon Effect: How Retailers Are Adapting Their Businesses…

It’s all very well waxing lyrical about Sears, Macy’s and J.C. Penney, but let’s be honest, they’ve let things slide. Having fallen behind the times, they no longer relate to today's consumers. In the last decade, Sears has closed 22 percent of its stores. We’re witnessing the death of the mall because traditional retailers failed…

Smart brands are looking for new ways to beat their competition and succeed in this changing retail industry. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (WSI) is leveraging its best competitive advantage — its network of stores — to give customers an enhanced shopping experience across its portfolio of brands (Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, and West Elm). Williams-Sonoma, Inc. recently introduced…

In episode 106 of Total Retail Talks, recorded at the Total Retail Talks Live! event in New York City, Neda Navab, head of customer experience and innovation for Enjoy, an online technology shopping service that offers free home delivery and expert setup, talks about using customer service to enhance physical retail locations.

As competition across the e-commerce landscape continues to heat up, retailers must quickly adapt to the fluid nature of customer expectations. Research from Monetate revealed that more than 83 percent of customers expect brands to deliver a personalized experience. Retailers that fail to do just that run the risk of alienating a significant portion of…

For the third year in a row,  outdoor outfitter L.L. Bean has been named customer service champion over Amazon.com in Prosper Insights & Analytics’ annual review of service excellence among retailers. The list was developed from write-in votes from more than 6,500 U.S. adults in September 2016, and was weighted by each retailer’s size in annual…

In episode 104 of Total Retail Talks, recorded at the Total Retail Talks Live! event in Seattle, Peter Francis, vice president of digital growth and acquisition for T-Mobile, discusses the role brick-and-mortar stores will play in the company's future. Francis addresses how T-Mobile views omnichannel retail, and what the company is doing to execute on…

Consumers may be focused on back-to-school shopping right now, but retailers are already looking ahead and planning for the busy holiday shopping season. Big-box retailers like Wal-Mart and Target might be the first to come to mind when consumers think “holiday shopping” or Black Friday, but small businesses are continuing to position themselves to better…