User Experience

Think Beyond Red Roses and Cater to Procrastinating Valentines
February 8, 2016 at 10:01 am

February is here and that means Cupid is on everyoneโ€™s mind. Unlike other holidays for which consumers shop months in advance, the sudden two-week period leading up to Valentineโ€™s Day causes a gift and flower frenzy. In fact, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF), Valentineโ€™s Day is the fourth largest spending holiday, following winter holidays,โ€ฆ

Why the Cloud is the Future of Your Online Store
January 29, 2016 at 11:59 am

Everyone has already heard how important the cloud is to the future of business, but that doesnโ€™t just apply to the Fortune 500s. E-commerce companies of all sizes can get terrific benefits โ€” e.g., reduced costs and quicker recovery times โ€” from moving their website and back-end to the cloud. Most important of all however is that theโ€ฆ

Target, PayPal Sites Report Problems on Cyber Monday
December 1, 2015 at 10:40 am

Cyber Monday, the online version of Black Friday, isn't immune to traffic jams of shoppers rushing to take advantage of post-Thanksgiving sales. Some of the most popular websites experienced an overload on Monday, similar to a crowd pushing its way into an already packed brick-and-mortar store. Shoppers were for a period of time unable toโ€ฆ

Preparing for the Holidays: A 101 in Web Performance Optimization
December 1, 2015 at 10:21 am

Holiday sales traditionally constitute a huge portion of retailersโ€™ annual revenue, and thereโ€™s a lot at stake in the upcoming season. According to PwC, web sales for the overall retail sector will see a mid- to high-teens percentage increase over last year, with the leading retailers poised for a 40 percent to 50 percent increase.โ€ฆ

Wal-Mart Website Struggles to Handle Demand for โ€˜Doorbustersโ€™
November 27, 2015 at 11:44 am

Wal-Martโ€™s website malfunctioned during the Thanksgiving shopping rush Thursday morning, throwing a wrench in some shoppersโ€™ plans to avoid long lines by grabbing deals online. For the first time, the worldโ€™s biggest retailer offered most of its Black Friday โ€œdoorbustersโ€ on its website hours before they were available inside its U.S. stores. The discounts, which wereโ€ฆ

Which Elements of the Shopping Experience Matter Most?
November 2, 2015 at 12:16 pm

This article was originally featured on Women in Retail Leadership Circle (WIRLC), a sister organization of Total Retail. When it comes to shopping behavior, price is a key motivator. However, to sustain a customerโ€™s loyalty over the long term, retailers often find it valuable to focus on the customer experience. But which experiences are most importantโ€ฆ

4 Tips for Optimizing the Customer Experience to Increase Engagement and Conversions
October 27, 2015 at 12:27 pm

Website and customer experience optimization aren't new. Both have been slowly and steadily evolving over the past decade and have become a key competitive differentiator for many retailers, especially global brands that have created a โ€œculture of optimizationโ€ throughout their organizations. Along with this evolution comes new tips, tricks and techniques based on the previousโ€ฆ

Jet.com CEO: We May Have the Lowest Prices, But Many Shoppers Canโ€™t Figure That Out
September 1, 2015 at 10:23 am

Jet.com may have the lowest prices on the web, but a lot of people who visit the site still donโ€™t realize it. That's something CEO Marc Lore acknowledged when asked about confusion among people who hear about Jet.comโ€™s low prices but donโ€™t see them displayed clearly when they visit a Jet.com product page. โ€œBelieve me, we haveโ€ฆ