Online Marketing

Tuesday Morning Corp. has dropped the "e" from its commerce. The Dallas-based closeout retailer quietly shut down its online shopping site last month in order to better focus on business for its more than 800 physical stores. The company said the nature of its business, which involves a constantly rotating array of housewares, clothing luggage and more, is better suited for in-person shopping. While it seems like an unlikely move in an increasingly online-focused world, some industry experts say it may be for the best.

I had the opportunity to chat recently with Beth Guastella, the recently named president and chief operating officer of giggle, an omnichannel specialty retailer of upscale baby products and resources. In part one of this two-part blog post, we discuss what attracted Guastella to giggle; what specialty retail is; and how giggle’s catalog business works. 

It's likely you've used behavioral targeting to reach out to and convert shoppers on your website or through display ads. Now, however, with so much of your online marketing occurring on social media sites, wouldn't it also be valuable to reach consumers there with behavioral targeting? And what if you could actually improve your campaign effectiveness by retargeting those same people via social media?

Niraj Shah, CEO of Wayfair (formerly CSN Stores), the Boston-based online seller of home furnishings, with 1,250 employees, a global presence, 2012 revenue of $600 million and a 40 percent growth rate, offered his four drivers of long-term retail success during a session at the 2013 Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition in Chicago last week. They include the following:

In a session at IBM's Smarter Commerce Global Summit in Nashville yesterday, Michael Lahue, e-commerce project manager, and Lisa Langan, e-commerce marketing analyst, both of Carter's, discussed how the cross-channel retailer of baby and children's apparel is leveraging personalization solutions to drive sales across its organization.

The good news is that online retailers understand fraud is a growing problem and have taken steps to combat it. Their efforts are making an impact. Studies point to a decrease in the percentage of orders lost to fraud. Our own Annual Trends Survey revealed that for 75 percent of respondents, less than 1 percent of their online orders are fraudulent. While this is a step in the right direction, you shouldn't be satisfied till that figure is 0 percent. Here are tips to help you get there:

In December, American Apparel achieved the highest sales month for its online business in the company's history, besting December 2011's sales by 59 percent. The company, which both manufactures and distributes merchandise and operates retail stores, had moved its multisite e-commerce operations to Oracle's ATG Web Commerce in October. American Apparel is using the platform, a component of Oracle Commerce, to operate multiple integrated e-commerce sites for different customer groups and geographic regions. The retailer is using the solution to present customers with personalized content and customized search options, helping to accelerate selections by presenting items that the shopper prefers.

Soma Intimates' bra makeover videos are a multipurpose marketing tool that helps women find the best fitting, most comfortable product while enabling the brand to engage consumers via another online touchpoint (in addition to its website, third-party syndicated sites, video forums and social networking sites). As an added bonus, Soma Intimates also benefits from happy customers sharing the video with friends, which has lead to a virally driven uplift in sales.

Today's retailers have many digital marketing options that can not only boost sales during the holidays but also build valuable relationships with consumers that last year-round. Here are four digital marketing efforts that retailers can implement immediately for this year's holiday shopping season and repurpose throughout the year:

According to the National Retail Federation, more than half of U.S. consumers will shop online this holiday season, up nearly 50 percent from last year. With that increase, the industry's leading trade group projects total holiday sales to reach upwards of $96 billion. Depending on how prepared you are, this either represents a huge opportunity or the potential for millions of dollars in lost revenue. Chances are that you've already been planning for the holiday surge for months, but if the holidays snuck up on you this year, here are five actionable tips you can leverage now to make sure you get a slice of the holiday shopping pie: