SMS

Consumers are text obsessed, so it should come as no surprise that SMS text messaging is gaining popularity as an effective and efficient marketing medium. According to a recent report, 90 percent of consumers open, read and respond to new text messages within 30 minutes of receiving them. This gives marketers access to target audiences…

Regardless of the circumstance, retailers must meet their customers where they are. With cell phone usage increasing by 56 percent among all consumers since COVID-19 stay-at-home orders have been enforced, retailers must pivot their marketing strategies to meet customers in their new medium of choice: SMS. According to research from BounceX’s COVID-19 retail report, owned…

The past few weeks have been filled with global uncertainty, and the retail industry has been heavily impacted since the national state of emergency was declared on March 13. Despite the recent industry turmoil, Listrak data from the two weeks following the declaration shows that overall e-commerce sales have jumped 31 percent year-over-year, demonstrating a…

In episode 238 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Gail Buffington, vice president of marketing and analytics at Soft Surroundings, a women's apparel, shoes and accessories retailer. Listen in as Buffington discusses Soft Surrounding's brand history as a cataloger, its expansion into brick-and-mortar retail, and her career at the company. She shares how Soft…

In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Kristina Stidham discuss how retailers are increasingly using SMS (i.e., text messaging) to communicate with customers, from marketing to customer service, among other uses. Total Retail recently published an article, Untapped and Unfiltered: How to Win 2020 With a Solid SMS Marketing Strategy,…

In episode 232 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Laurie Simpter, senior manager of customer relations at Pier 1 Imports, an omnichannel retailer of unique, decorative home furnishings, decor and gifts. Listen in as Simpter discusses the challenges many retailers face when handling customer service phone calls, including staffing, especially during peak holiday times.…

Entering the new year, retailers are focused on outperforming competitors and the previous year’s shopper experiences. To maximize marketing spend, retailers need to approach their marketing framework with a cross-channel strategy: beyond tried-and-true email and social towards underutilized channels like push notifications and SMS. I’ll focus on the latter channel in this article. Ignoring SMS…

In episode 185 of Total Retail Talks, Executive Editor Joe Keenan interviews Zak Normandin, founder and CEO of Iris Nova, parent company of innovative beverage brand Dirty Lemon, which sells it products via a direct-to-consumer conversational commerce model. Normandin addresses retail and grocery/CPG industry disruption, the future of text messaging as a commerce channel, and…

In this interactive webinar, retail industry experts will discuss the importance of an effective cross-channel marketing strategy.

Women's handbag and accessories brand Vera Bradley recently opened a new line of communication with its customers: text messaging. The company is using text messaging to provide speedier and more personalized customer service. Prior to implementing the contact-center solution that enabled texting, Vera Bradley recognized its customers might be trying to send text messages to…