Blueport CommerceBlueport.com

Part II of Five Key Insights from MITX’s The Great Mobile Migration: Demystifying Mobile Marketing

We hope you enjoyed reading part one of our two-part series about MITX's "The Great Mobile Migration: Demystifying Mobile Marketing." In part one, we discussed how important it is for furniture retailers to catch up and invest in mobile intelligently and discuss how consumer behavior already dictates shopping on mobile devices. In part two of our two-part series we uncover the unique brick and mortar opportunities furniture retailers face when it comes to mobile: location, data, and advertising Return on Investment (ROI).

3. Location is the largest area of innovation for mobile e-commerce.

If furniture retailers can crack the code of location through mobile, the opportunities are endless. Retailers can tailor shopping experiences at the location level and gain greater insight on shopper behavior. As we learned in the MITX session “The Future of Location Based Marketing,” location-based marketing and tracking is not yet mature for retailers, and more needs to be done in integration with Point of Sale (POS) systems, carriers, and providers. However, it’s been done before, and furniture retailers should take note and get ahead of the curve. For example, Starbucks is a leader of the location pack, with location-based offers and their digital wallet. And, as visitors to the Google developers conference this week found out, location will play an even bigger role in the next generation of search.

4. Data, data, data!

In order to succeed in online e-commerce, furniture retailers MUST take advantage of insight that data offers, and this is just as true with mobile. Retailers can and should capture, analyze, and target their customers at a scale that will work for their business through mobile and at every level from their online e-commerce experience down to their brick and mortar store. This data should give deep insights and allow for optimal performance, though a big caution to being too “big brother” when using data insights for pricing and promotion.

5. But, there’s no money in mobile. A paradigm shift is needed. Advertisers, get creative!

It’s a known fact that within the current mobile infrastructure, businesses have been afraid to dip their toes into the mobile waters due to the low ROI, especially for advertising revenue. However, businesses and advertisers alike can and have been getting creative to help move the needle. The Weather Company in particular offers its advertisers branded backgrounds, providing 40 sets of creative weather conditions including their brand, and in turn they get the whole mobile screen footprint. Innovations with video, mobile rich media, and out of banner experiences serve to enhance the mobile opportunity for advertising while giving shoppers to choice to opt in. Furniture retailers can take advantage of these opportunities as well – offering unique ways for manufacturers to advertise their product through mobile to achieve greater revenue streams beyond merchandise conversion.

While many companies, retailers and non-retailers alike, are already taking advantage of the opportunities for mobile now, furniture retailers can, and should, get their skin in the game. As we learned at the MITX Summit  “The Great Mobile Migration: Demystifying Mobile Marketing,” consumer behavior is dictating the need for mobile, now and in the future. Furniture retailers who can effectively navigate mobile and make it easier for shoppers to buy from them have an opportunity to see ever positive returns and grow their businesses exponentially. Now excuse me, I have to go check my phone...and tablet.  

Miss part one yesterday? Read it here.

Part I of Five Key Insights from MITX’s The Great Mobile Migration: Demystifying Mobile Marketing

Earlier in May, Blueport Commerce joined MITX and other members at their Summit, titled “The Great Mobile Migration: Demystifying Mobile Marketing.” One thing came through loud and clear – if companies aren’t dedicating efforts to mobile, they are already behind. In the words of keynote speaker Cameron Clayton, President of the Digital Division for The Weather Company, “I hate to say it but if you don’t step up [to mobile], the audience will change their brand preference in a second and you are already behind.” Being already behind on mobile can be daunting. Blueport Commerce breaks down five key opportunities for furniture retailers. Put down your phones and tablets and read our two-part series on what we found. 

In part one of our two-part series, we uncover what it means to invest in mobile and debunk the common concern that consumers just aren’t shopping on their smartphones and tablets.

1. Spend Money on Mobile

First and foremost, furniture retailers should be dedicating their budget to mobile. Clayton says, “If you aren’t spending 7% of your budgets on mobile, you’re doing it wrong.” For furniture retailers, it’s not just about throwing money at mobile, but doing it in an intelligent way. For Victor Milligan, Chief Marketing Officer of Nexage, traditionally mobile has been divided into channels and the future is really content that will cross channels, making the very idea of a mobile channel irrelevant. All activities should fall into a 100% mix, including mobile. For PayPal Chief Operating Officer, David Chang, it’s important to understand your audiences and how that fits into your business, mobile, and beyond, and align your efforts accordingly. For Chang, multichannel integration and offers are critical for PayPal’s business success, especially for mobile. Furniture retailers have a large opportunity to focus on mobile the right way, the first time; as a part of their overall pricing, marketing, and promotion strategies within their e-commerce technology. By planning and optimizing for mobile in advance, furniture retailers can ensure the shopping experience is optimal no matter the device.

2. Shopping Concerns Debunked

Newsflash: We all already shop on smartphones and tablets. In the words of Hilary Dionne, Senior Marketing Manager of Customer Insights and Analytics at Zmags, “Couch Commerce” is a common behavior for shoppers, especially on tablets. For furniture retailers, embracing the multichannel opportunities mobile can provide will open doors for shoppers to purchase. In addition, mapping the optimal path to purchase is critical on any device, especially on mobile. Isaac Mosquera, Director of Mobile for ShareThis, emphasizes the opportunity that the mobile experience plays in the purchasing, along with how easy it is to interact with your company. Location also plays a role in mobile for e-commerce as a key way to be innovative. Furniture retailers can take advantage of these tips and tricks to optimize their businesses for shopping in mobile, especially when it comes to selling furniture online.

Furniture retailers have a huge opportunity now and in the future to invest in mobile as part of their overall efforts, not just as a channel. And, the truth is, consumer behavior demands the ability to shop on multiple devices on smartphones and tablets alike. For more information on how furniture retailers can take advantage of mobile, look out for our part II of this series!

While many of us avid shoppers can attest to the immense benefits of shopping online, it may be a surprise that shopping online for furniture is just climbing the crest of its opportunity for retail e-commerce. According to Google/Compete [note: link loads PDF], for shoppers, the path to purchase is all about the right method, products, price and selection that will influence how they buy furniture online. Here’s how furniture retailers can take advantage of the furniture shopper path to purchase.

Online Is a Tool for the Entire Furniture Shopping Pipeline

While furniture shopping is averaging just an increase of 5% unique visits year-over-year, shoppers are behaving all over the map. Furniture retailers have a huge opportunity to capture shoppers at all stages of conversion online. For example, only one in four furniture buyers purchase online but those that do purchase online tend to spend more than those who purchase offline – the average price paid by furniture purchasers who shopped online was $657 versus $600 for those who didn’t. Two-thirds of these buyers who purchase in-store access the internet for furniture information. That’s 66% of shoppers who are just trying to learn more to help their ultimate purchase, whether online or in a retail store!

Omnichannel Is Right On

Marketing to shoppers through omnichannel efforts is not just to satisfy e-commerce buzzwords – omnichannel is a true tenant of what makes furniture retailers reap the benefits of selling furniture online. In-store buyers rely heavily on retail sites while shopping – 76% of them on furniture store sites. These buyers also cast a wide net while shopping online, with 63% of purchasers visiting multiple furniture brand sites prior to purchase.

In addition, shoppers have specific requirements for furniture that influences purchase, among them style (82%), material (81%), durability (81%), and size (80%). With all of these considerations being made by shoppers both online and off, it’s critically important for furniture retailers to engage shoppers wherever they are in their purchase cycle and through multiple channels.

Mobile Continues to Catch Waves

Mobile and tablets are still increasingly important sources for online furniture shoppers. 13% use a tablet to access furniture information, while 12% use their mobile. While these numbers don’t yet represent the majority of those studied, trends still suggest that mobile and tablets are poised for growth in the coming years for e-commerce. In addition, Blueport’s brick and mortar retailers can count themselves as sites that furniture shoppers visit:

• Furniture-only retail sites (39%)
• Home furnishing sites (40%)
• Online-only retail websites (41%)
• Department store websites (44%)

Furniture retailers that can take full advantage of online commerce, while integrating with their brick and mortar stores and mobile, are poised to seize the billion dollar opportunity ahead of them. And Blueport Commerce is riding the wave right along with them, by helping furniture retailers implement a full-service solution that meets the unique, localized needs of selling furniture online.

According to a recent report from Forrester Research, 2013 will be a trendsetting year for consumer payments. Blueport Commerce examines how furniture retailers can take advantage and the implications of three key trends: innovative versus existing payment options, the digital wallet battle for supremacy, and alternative financial services for underserved customers.

Emerging Payment Models Will Disrupt Existing Payment Structures Among Merchants

Forrester predicts that emerging payment models are expected to disrupt traditional payment economics. For example, “merchants have a growing set of payment options that do not adhere to the traditional interchange or processing fee model.” A handful of these new options could come at a lower cost than old-school payment options and at a bigger ROI for both consumers and retailers. The new emerging payment technologies include mobile digital wallets and startups offering free or low cost payment processing. Furthermore, Forrester states that merchants will reset their expectations for lower costs and greater value from incumbent payment service providers.

Customers Require Differentiation Among Digital Wallets

Forrester’s second trend involves the need for digital wallet providers to stand out from the crowd. In January 2013, Juniper Research predicted that more than 1 billion mobile phone users will have used their mobile devices for banking purposes by the end of 2017, compared to just over 590 million this year. This forecast represents around 15 percent of the mobile subscriber base.

And as digital wallet wars continue (players include Square, PayPal, Google Wallet, Isis, and MasterPass, among others), the contenders who truly solve a user pain point, especially through mobile, will emerge on top. For example, MasterPass simply requires consumers to download an app, and scan the barcode, which adds their product to a shopping cart. At checkout, the consumer just taps the “BUY WITH MasterPass” button on the touchscreen. Soon enough, gone will be the days of waiting in line, carrying multiple credit cards, and consumers are in control of how and when they pay.

Emerging Alternative Financial Services Will Help the Underserved Consumers

The third trend Forrester sees is that emerging alternative financial services will appeal to a broad base of consumers. More plentiful payment options for e-commerce retailers start to become attractive to a set base of underserved consumers who might be “unbanked, underbanked and debanked.” Merchants who look to create fast and simple conversion of cash for digital payments will be able to appeal to other sectors of the population, and compete head-to-head with checking accounts and debit cards.

Advantages for Furniture Retailers: In Store & Online

Brick and mortar furniture retailers can take advantage of offering new payment methods to satisfy their customers’ needs for speed and ease – taking the pain out of “waiting in line” and paying automatically with the click of a button. The convenience of these new payment methods to the online channel is that they help integrate omnichannel store to online efforts and offer a competitive difference among other online retailers. The combination of providing easy and fast ways for customers to shop, whether in store or online, can positively impact conversion.

In addition, for e-commerce furniture retailers these emerging payment options offer an enhanced level of security. Sensitive information, like a MasterCard through MasterPass, is stored online through smartphones, tablets or desktops, eliminating concerns about physical card security, complete with fraud checking and other online security methods. By taking security concerns out of the equation, “We want to let consumers choose their own device, and we’ve built the platform to enable that,” says Ed Olebe, SVP & group head at MasterCard Worldwide.

So no matter what payment method is offered – emerging trends in consumer payments are here to stay and furniture merchants and consumers alike can take advantage of innovative payment methods.

It’s no secret men and women approach many activities in life in varying ways, with an oft-joked-about hobby being shopping. But nowhere are the differences between men and women more pronounced than when it comes to the act of furniture shopping. Furniture retailers take note: how you set up a showroom and display your furniture online makes a huge difference depending on what target audience you’re trying to reach and how it’s going to impact your profit. So stayed tuned for the sequel to Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus: Furniture Retail Edition and read on.

Philosophy of Furniture Shopping

According to Social4Retail’s excellent infographic, 74% of women surveyed think about shopping all of the time. Not surprisingly, men prefer to think about beer (25%) and football (25%), while half (50%) think of the expense related to the furniture purchase. Consequently, men have the goal of moving through the purchase cycle as quickly as possible, seeing furniture shopping as a chore and wanting to spend their time on other activities. Of the men surveyed, most view furniture as just a single item and care most about comfort, value and durability. In contrast, women shoppers think of a piece of furniture as a part of the entire room, and value cohesiveness and design the most when selecting the perfect big-ticket item.

Crucial E-Commerce Mistakes to Avoid

For e-commerce, furniture retailers need to keep in mind mistakes that are common among both genders. Two overlapping points that are the most detrimental for both men and women shopping for furniture online are a retailer not having a secure website (54% of women, 49% of men) and forms that are complicated to fill out (47% of women, 41% of men). Furniture retailers that don’t allow customers to add to cart without signing up first receive negative feedback (38% of women, 36% of men). Provided furniture retailers solve for security and ease of use, both men and women will be satisfied.

Online Shopping Features to Embrace

The e-commerce features that are most important to women include customer reviews (57%), as well as detailed product information and clear images (54%). In contrast, men feel the most critical online e-commerce features are product recommendation suggestions (such as “customers also bought” at 48%) and speedy checkout (47%). These findings tie in with the earlier survey numbers which suggest women are most concerned with selecting a highly curated piece of furniture that fits into their home as a lifestyle enhancement, while men just want the shopping process to be as expeditious as possible, whether online or in brick and mortar stores.

So What Is an E-Commerce Furniture Retailer to Do?

In order to drive the most revenue online, furniture retailers should focus on easy wins such as detailed product information and clear images that speak to women and quick checkout for men. In terms of bigger implementations, site security is the biggest concern for both genders, along with ensuring that form fields aren’t tedious to fill out. With a carefully curated selection and a website that allows for quick and easy conversion, online furniture retailers can ensure they always win the battle of the sexes, as well as the battle for greater profit.

Going beyond social networking to social influence is critical to success for retailers in 2013. According to Econsultancy, using social media to its full potential influences consumer purchases, and goes beyond just brand promotion: it takes advantage tools to succeed and increase conversion in the social sphere. Follow these tips to move the social needle away from being part of the crowd to being the crowd-source. 

Tip #1: Location, Location, Location

Here at Blueport, we preach a localized e-commerce experience for furniture retail that allows shoppers to get their pieces just that much quicker while maintaining quality and a fair price. Online, shoppers behave similarly when they shop around a brick-and-mortar store. If something doesn’t stand out to them or they just happen to not pass by that area of the show room (in this case, a website’s landing page), there’s a lost conversion opportunity.

For social media influence, location is important. People interact and share information when the opportunity presents itself, so make social media work harder for you and make it easier for people to talk about your brand and merchandise. How? Strategically locate your social media channels all over your website to allow for greater interaction and influence for your brand and merchandise. Victoria’s Secret has been able to garner the highest Facebook presence because its landing page connects to more social media and works with multiple devices.

Tip #2: He Said, She Said Matters

Although the days of lunch room gossip are long over, no one said we still didn’t crave being in the know. Thankfully, today social media can fill the void and stay ahead of what on trend chevron pattern John Stamos has in his dining room. 63% of social media users feel consumer ratings are the number one source of information about e-commerce products,, and consumers discuss specific brands casually 90 times per week. Retailers can tap into this natural communication, but optimize it in the online space.

Tip #3: Give Shoppers What They Want

58% of Facebook users expect exclusive offers, events and promotions when they become fans of a Facebook page. 74% of consumers rely on social networks to guide purchase decisions. As if that weren’t enough, 70% of active social media users shop online and 47% of them are more likely to be heavy spenders on clothing, shoes and accessories. How can furniture retailers take advantage of this influence online? Specific, exclusive offers help, but it’s also about communicating your brand promise, tailoring your merchandise to your fan demographic and using the data captured to provide insight into your merchandise selection.

Social influence for e-commerce is all about spending just the right amount of time with a few other tips and tricks to make the most of what is offered. Oh and by the way, we’d love to hear from you: @blueportdotcom on Twitter, BlueportCommerce on Facebook and also on LinkedIn. #longliveecommerce

Are you the type of person who gets driven insane by incomplete tasks? Did you have to hit 100 percent completeness on your LinkedIn profile? Or collect a retailer’s loyalty points to get rewards? If so, you’ve been gamified. Gamification is the concept of using game design elements in non-game applications to make them more fun and engaging. By 2014, 70 percent of large companies will use the technique for at least one business process, per Gartner’s estimate. And e-commerce is no stranger to gamification – right now the trend is for online promotions to drive consumers to checkout, as well as steer people to social media and email sharing.

Gamification in Action: Checkout

Blueport Commerce has helped implement gamification elements for our furniture retail clients. Last year, Blueport set up an interactive Las Vegas style promo for a superstore client, which allowed users to roll dice online to receive a discount. This tied in to the in-store promotion where casinos were set up in the retailer’s selected brick and mortar locations and people were able to play roulette to get discounts.

Registered users received a link directly to the dice rolling widget via promotional email. For new users, they needed to register before they could roll the dice to get discounts. Each registered user could roll only once, and depending on their number, they would receive a $50, $100 or $200 coupon, valid on orders of $1,200 or more. Codes were then added to the registered user’s shopping cart automatically.

The Results

People found out about the game via website banners and email blasts to opted-in users. Our client banked 2,000 new registered users, and 5,000 people rolled the dice. In just over four days they experienced double digit increases in revenue during the event generated by people rolling the dice and purchasing with discounts.

Gamification is Afoot: Driving to Social & Email

Thanks to Bernie Madoff and their generally suspect nature, Ponzi schemes are generally not thought of in a positive light. However the concept of gamification worked wonders for a Blueport big-ticket e-commerce client who wanted to encourage email sharing. Blueport created a discount app, where a registered user of that retailer’s website received an email giving them a discount for a mattress. Depending on how many people the original recipient forwarded it to, that person could build up discount credits to the point where they were able to get a free mattress. The credits were only applied if the people who received the email signed up on the site. This concept has also been adapted to fit social sharing by other companies.

The principles of gamification state that humans are looking for rewards, loss aversion, status, competition and reputation, and feedback. Good gamification implementation demands that you give users motivation to do something (emotional investment, promise of reward, etc.), the ability to complete the action, and a trigger to complete the action. If e-commerce retailers can successfully create and implement gamification, the financial ROI can bring down the house.  

Recently, eight members of the Blueport Commerce team attended the MITX: What’s Next E-Commerce Summit (Twitter hashtag #MITXECS) to learn about the latest trends and technology in Boston-based e-commerce. Below are seven highlights we took away from this high-energy, informative and inspiring e-commerce experience.

1. Biggest Recurring Theme: Big Data
   The phrase of the day was definitely “big data”. This was a key focus of Wayfair’s panel to kick off the event. Ben Clark, Director of Software Engineering at Wayfair, spoke to the need to structure the data post-capture and being able to create a tailored experience via tactics like clickstream tracking. By creating a record of how people interact with an e-commerce website, such as their products and interests, retailers can create a truly customized experience that is better than any canned solution. We appreciated the focus on consumer behavior pre- and post-purchase and optimized your e-commerce site for maximum revenue generation.
    
2. Most Fascinating Technology Application: Mobile App Segmentation
   One of Blueport’s favorite quotes of the day came from SapientNitro’s Mark Berinato, Associate Creative Director, Experience Design, who said “Your customers aren’t monolithic,” referring to the need for retailers to meet their customers where they are. During the “Building the Next Wave of Great Mobile User Experiences” breakout session, various mobile experts discussed the need to create different levels of apps for different fan bases. For example, designing a full mobile app with each device getting its own platform works for a client like NASCAR, who has some of the most passionate fans on the planet. In contrast, for the casual Indianapolis 500 fan, NASCAR also commissioned a hybrid mobile app which used a combination of an app plus HTML to engaged mobile users who didn’t require the full functionality of a full mobile app. At the end of the session, the panel concluded that designing a mobile app was all about “choreographing the customer journey,” a phrase we at Blueport really loved as it speaks to the heart of the true customer e-commerce experience, not just purchase.
    
3. Best Example of Customization in E-Commerce: Boston Fashion
   One of the most “tailored” presentations was “Boston Fashion Gets Personal with Gemvara, Blank Label, CustomMade, Bow & Drape”. All four companies cater to a more affluent and unique type of customer that wants the highest level of personalization possible in jewelry, furniture, and fashion (men’s and women’s), respectively. Blueport Commerce really enjoyed this panel for its focus on extreme personalization, loyalty tactics and high-end service. For example, Bow & Drape has photorealistic technology which allows a woman shopping for a custom-made dress to virtually “try on” the clothes on a body that mimics her measurements. Bow & Drape also has an at-home-try-on program, where muslins in up to three different sizes will be sent to potential customers, complete with seamstresses’ marks, in order to ensure the best fit possible. These “fit kits” lead to a whopping 60% conversion rate. Also impressive was Bow & Drape’s surprise post-purchase gifts to their loyal customers. We at Blueport Commerce loved the concept of learning to emotionally connect with highly selective consumers pre-purchase to establish trust, something essential for selling big-ticket items such as furniture online.
    
4. Most Interesting Presentation: Karmaloop
   A crowd-favorite presentation was the always-entertaining Greg Selkoe, the founder of Karmaloop, a Boston-based streetwear company. In this fireside chat, Greg touched on multiple topics including the fact he hires passionate people who wear his products as his customer service representatives, knowing that it adds credibility to have people that truly care about the brand representing it. Greg also says he doesn't hire experts anymore regarding his site content because they don't know his audience the way his team does. Greg also spoke passionately against rigid Boston laws that he feels prevent Boston start-ups and businesses from thriving, and encouraged people to check out his project, Future Boston Alliance, which advocates for collective action to improve Boston laws and businesses. 
    
5. Best Vendor Station: STaples
   Thanks to their adorable mini-cupcakes and enormous pastry spread, Staples absolutely killed it in the vendor display department. And who doesn’t love a little conference carbo-loading? Oh, and their panel in the morning on creating an omnichannel experience was delicious as well, touching upon the need for automated metrics around page speed and page performance before even thinking of rolling out new capabilities.
    
6. Most Controversial Statement: Omnichannel
   Speaking of omnichannel, the most controversial statement of the day belonged to Steve Davis, President of Rue La La, who boldly stated his disdain for the phrase “omnichannel”, insisting that it’s overrated and what really matters is the customer experience. Steve also views traditional customer service as reactionary, while by contrast, a great concierge anticipates your needs. Rue La La is extremely focused on NPS (Net Promoter Score) as a mission-critical metric and feels strongly that customer loyalty must be earned. While we at Blueport don’t necessarily agree the need to be omnichannel is overrated, Rue La La is a great example of a truly customer-centric company that prides itself on and strives for great customer service.
    
7. Most Engaged Tweeters
   No surprise, but MITX was full of very active social media enthusiasts. Some of our favorite tweets came from the following companies, speakers and audience members:
   @MITX
   @Selkoe
   @drkleiman
   @trishofthetrade
   @bowanddrape
   @karmaloop
   @UsefulArts
   @ScottKirsner
   @sapientnitro
   @compete
   @aubriepagano
   @gemvara
   @blanklabel
   @custommade
   @SteveHaase

Overall, the #MITXECS was a very informative, fun and engaging day that made Blueport Commerce proud to be a part of the fabric of the Boston e-commerce scene. Our hope is that big-ticket retail is an even bigger focus at the next e-commerce event.

Want to read more? Read the MITX Event Recap: Top Tweets from the 2013 "What's Next" e-Commerce Summit (#MITXECS) and listen to Greg Selkoe’s Fireside Chat on Boston.com [may require Boston.com registration].

For big-ticket furniture retailers, it’s important to know who is shopping, where, why and how selling furniture online is part of the equation. This week, we at Blueport Commerce are going to give you insights into all of this, drawing on data from a recent Furniture Today and Apartment Therapy study.

The unlikely pair partnered to complete a 1,600-respondent survey on where, why and how different generations shop for furniture. For this survey, Generation Y includes people age 18-36, Generation X includes ages 37-47 and Baby Boomers are 48-66 years old. While you can read the complete study in Furniture Today’s print publication, we provide some of the highlights and our expert insights.

Where People Are Shopping

It’s rare that in a survey, 100% of one group answers a question the same way, however 100% of Generation X and Y respondents answered that they “frequently shop” at lifestyle furniture stores. These stores are defined as retailers that carry furniture and home accents at full price, such as Ikea, Pottery Barn, West Elm, Restoration Hardware, and Crate & Barrel. Baby Boomers’ preferred furniture shopping source is also lifestyle furniture stores, with 69% saying they regularly shop for furniture there. Ikea is the most popular brand, with 44% of Generation Y and 36% of Generation X saying they regularly shop at Ikea.

Traditional furniture stores, where furniture is the store’s total business or single-largest category, were the next most popular shopping destination for many, but with significant generational differences. Half of Baby Boomers commonly shop at traditional furniture stores, but this number drops to 33% for Gen X and only 23% for Gen Y.

Lagging far behind was the  classic department store (defined as full-line operations carrying a variety of merchandise such as Macy’s, JC Penney and Sears), with less than 10% of any generation shopping there regularly.

Why People Shop at These Stores

We believe consumers of all ages respond well to lifestyle furniture stores because they promote a complete experience. Their showrooms and catalogs tend to focus on the feelings and emotions that the furniture and highly stylized rooms provoke, allowing less visual buyers to benefit from product placement and suggestions. They make the entire furniture decision and purchase process more enjoyable for their customers. Many lifestyle furniture stores also sell a wide range of affordable accessories – letting the aspirational shopper get a taste of the brand without committing to a big-ticket purchase.

Shoppers who liked traditional stores cited the quality product and variety as their reasons for shopping there, as well as being locally owned and having top-notch customer service. Comments such as "the store's customer service and free delivery are great" and "I like to support local, small businesses” are typical reasons as to why shoppers preferred to do business with a traditional store.

Blueport Commerce isn’t surprised by these findings, as the advantage of localized big-ticket retail e-commerce is being able to close the gap between brick-and-mortar showrooms and online shopping. Consumers enjoy the experience of the stores and being able to touch and feel the furniture, while reaping the benefits of easy browsing, knowledgeable furniture sales staff and streamlined checkout.

How Furniture E-Commerce Fits In

One of the biggest surprises in this survey is how “online” was a top choice for furniture shopping across all age groups: 39% of Generation Y, 36% of Generation X and 27% of Baby Boomers regularly shop for furniture on the Internet. Why? Because online shopping is “easy” and “a great resource with a wide range of choices.”

It’s encouraging that each generation is more and more comfortable with shopping online for furniture. The increased comfort level is resulting in a significant likelihood to purchase as well. When asked if they’d be comfortable buying a sofa without sitting on it first, 24% of Generation X, 18% of Generation Y and even 15% of Baby Boomers said they would.

As the only localized big-ticket e-commerce solution company, Blueport Commerce has embraced the trend of the growing number of people who are ready and willing to purchase big-ticket items online. By offering consumers more of a lifestyle furniture shopping experience online – for example, using more complete room images and suggesting accent pieces such as lighting and rugs when looking at larger items – retailers can benefit from increased browsing and conversions online.

Additionally, an e-commerce store can offer a targeted experience to consumers, increasing the likelihood of closing a sale. Targeting consumers by generation, for example, makes sense: members of Generation Y may live in smaller-sized apartments and condos, so furniture specifically selected for them, as opposed to Generation X or Baby Boomers in larger homes, can make all the difference. With 46% of respondents claiming they continuously shop for new furniture, providing an engaging online experience could be one of the best investments any furniture store could make.

E-commerce sales continue to steadily rise, with year-over-year sales growth for the period from October 29 to December 25, 2012 reaching 15.2% (Retail Info Systems News). If you're a big-ticket brick and mortar retailer looking to pick up on online best practices and integrate them into their physical stores, you should be taking note very closely. With the goal of engaging customers throughout the year, not just seasonally, you can recapture the potential sales lost through showrooming. And not all retailers need to adopt the Target defense of price-matching all sources – sometimes the best defense is a good (marketing) offense!

In an interesting interview from Multichannel Merchant, Randall Stone, senior partner and director of customer experience and retail design at Lippincott, has keyed in on a few retail strategies that are being used to enhance in-store shopping experiences. Here are the ones we at Blueport Commerce, the only e-commerce technology and services company that localizes big-ticket retail online, felt most applicable to big-ticket retailers:

1. Integrate Digital Tools Specific to the Showroom: Add digital kiosks and tablets throughout stores to allow customers to access online product information, reviews, as well as full e-commerce functionality to allow them to purchase online after getting to touch and feel the furniture. Provide customers with technology that allows them to visualize products in their everyday lives (read our coverage of augmented reality tools  here). Design a showcase experience that enables on-floor sales associates with tools (such as tablets) to see inventory levels, and allow consumers to customize any products they're interested in purchasing.
2. Embrace Omnichannel: Retailers have a chance to better engage consumers with a browse anywhere/buy anywhere approach. Retailers should allow customers to shop whenever and wherever they please and then pick-up, or have the goods delivered – site to store, store to home, etc.  Retailers who provide an omnichannel experience will be brand leaders.
3. Mobile Apps: Mobile apps allow consumers to shop in-store, pay painlessly with their smartphone and depart. These apps make shopping experiences quicker and easier. Oftentimes, coupons can be loaded onto the mobile app in order to incentivize shoppers to spend while in-store. In fact, in a recent survey, eMarketer found nearly two-thirds of 18- to 34-year-olds reported using their mobile phone for shopping this past holiday season, and almost half said this made their phone a faster resource for accessing information than asking a store associate.
4. Focus on Your Consumer Year-Round: Shopping holidays are high-volume revenue days for retailers, but they don't always mean repeat business. Customer loyalty is dependent on the consistent experience consumers have in your store and online – retailers need to deliver their brand experience all year long. Retailers who concept clever ways to differentiate themselves, such as express frequent shoppers’ lines or loyalty programs, will find retail success year-round. Some stores are experimenting with pop-up stores, flash sales and/or tailored events to appeal to new prospects. Big-ticket retailers can benefit from in-store promotional events that offer a rich, multimedia and interactive experiential component to drive store traffic. Additionally, for big-ticket retailers, design services and email marketing tactics can play a key role in keeping your customers engaged year round.

With big-ticket retail, the focus is going to be inherently local, as consumers often want to touch and feel the big-ticket items they are going to purchase. By focusing on creating a cohesive brand experience from site to store, enhancing convenience and providing a superior customer experience, big-ticket retailers can turn showrooming prospects into satisfied, loyal customers.

What do you think? Join the discussion on our Facebook page.

#1 Prediction: Amazon Buys UPS

They already bought Kiva. And even after a clearly bruised U.S. Postal Service reduces its service to 4 days a week, they refuse to sell out. So Amazon approaches UPS with an offer they can’t refuse, as it continues its quest to own commerce from cradle to grave. Analysts joke the only thing missing now is the perfect country in which to manufacture product.

Takeaway: Logistics are key, and often it’s easier to buy than build.
Reference: Forbes

#2 Prediction: Facebook Delisted from NASDAQ

Businesses realize that their most engaged users on Facebook are crazy cat ladies in the Midwest, and their ads only serve to decrease brand reputation. Marketers reallocate their social budgets to improving the customer experience across all channels. The result? A flood of new loyal fans of the sort previously seen only with luxury brands. Smart mass market brands reap the rewards. Facebook stock plummets, resulting in it being delisted.

Takeaway: Social sites accounted for less than one half of one percent of all sales on Black Friday 2012, which (believably) was WORSE than 2011.
Reference: Search Engine Watch

#3 Prediction: Gilt Rocks its First Showrooms

Gilt Groupe has been slowly expanding from its flash sale origin with the launch of its full-priced men’s line Park & Bond and recent television ad campaigns. The natural next step: Manhattan and L.A. showrooms. With weekly fashion shows, a top shelf bar called dubstep (run by Calvin Harris) – it’s club meets commerce. Boom.

Takeaway: 90% of sales still happen in stores, and other online-only retailers have already started opening showrooms to reach new customers.
Reference: New York Times

#4 Prediction: Megamerger! Sears + J.C. Penney + Best Buy + RadioShack = What?

Having struggled separately for years, the four retailers join forces in hopes of vanquishing their two main enemies – Walmart and Amazon. The whole family now enjoys shopping at the new Woolworth’s (market research said taking a historical retailer’s name would attract nostalgic Baby Boomers and Gen Y’ers alike). Everything under one roof is the motto – clothing, electronics, home goods, and tools – and their new stores start to revitalize aging downtowns and shopping malls.

Takeaway: It’s do or die for these four retailers. Even the power of the Kardashian Kollection can’t save them.
Reference: Wall Street Journal

#5 Prediction: Google Buys Starbucks

Google Fiber turns into the top global ISP with its acquisition of Starbucks Corporation. Booting out AT&T, Google Fiber is now available in the nearly 18,000 locations worldwide. And, it’s cheaper to buy Starbucks than continue to buy the coffees needed to power the 30,000+ live-in Google employees.

Takeaway: Google ISP launches in Kansas City, people over the world rejoice that they can finally kick Comcast/Time Warner/DIRECTV to the curb and pay off their mortgages within months.
Reference: Time

What do you see ahead for e-commerce in 2013? What crazy things do you think will happen? Let us know in the comments, or join the discussion on Facebook (yes, we’re really still on Facebook).

2013 is a year – when you were a kid, picking dates unimaginably far away – that might have been the founding year of your Lego moon colony, the birthday of a future hero or the expiration date of a seemingly permanent galactic treaty.

When I Uber, use Nike+ or email from 34,378 feet, it feels a bit like the future. Things once cumbersome have become easy – they feel clean, simple and efficient, like the future we imagined in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Is an iPad so different from a Tricorder? I think much of Apple’s market cap comes from the fact that it’s one of the few companies that looks and feels like the future. Forget that (Maps, Lighting) and watch out below.

Retail’s challenge – make the messy elegant

While experiences like hailing a cab have been transformed, the messiness that is retail has a way to go. In many ways, it’s messier now than ever. Shopper interactions with stores continue to expand in scope, channels and expectation. 

Morgan’s 3 Key E-Commerce Trends to Watch in 2012 were dead on – highlighting new devices and channels, as well as the need to maintain an experience across these multiplying mediums. Brick and mortar retailers, only a few decades ago able to count on the ritual of “shopping” to drive their traffic, are challenged to adapt. Their real challenge is to streamline this complexity into a modern, clean, relevant experience. Can Ron Johnson bring the future from Apple to JCP? It will be fascinating to watch.
 

2013 – Trees > Forest

2013 feels like the year that the factionalized retail trends of the past few years will start to harmonize. Chasing the latest widget, device or channel will evolve to a holistic view of brand delivery, understanding consumers’ needs and meeting those needs consistently across mediums. 

Three specific trends to keep an eye on in 2013 and beyond:

Ubiquity – Can we count (and scrap) the terms used to describe the ways shoppers and retailers interact? Distinctions between e-, multi-, omni-, digital and physical commerce will collapse, as former pure plays like Amazon build massive physical infrastructure and retailers like Williams-Sonoma consolidate stores in favor of online. 

2013 may be the year we finally start to treat stores as just another brand delivery method. The question for retailers in the past has been “do I need an online/mobile/social presence for my stores?” The question of the future is “do I need stores to deliver my brand?” Some categories (like furniture) will continue find stores useful. Other categories won’t. In either case, the days of stores being the default, requisite method of delivering a brand feel long gone.  

Back to Brands – Just as ubiquity will replace channel focus, a holistic approach to brand will replace digitally limited ideas like “user experience”. Where retailers have been looking at online and social as a way to express their store brands online, they are starting to look at what their brand means – regardless of channel – and how that can best be delivered. New entrants start with brand, and only embrace the channels that can deliver it. 

It’s those retailers that have a strong sense of brand and brand delivery that are winning in retail today. That clarity of purpose drives efficiency in their decisions online and off, and is a beacon to consumers looking for simple, cohesive solutions in a messy landscape.

All Aboard – Laggard industries will continue to be transformed, either by upstart entrants or forward-looking incumbents. If Uber can transform messy municipal markets like taxis, is there any market that “can’t” go online? 

Winners and losers in these markets will be determined by who has the assets to deliver the brand experiences people want. In some cases, those assets will be digital, others physical. Particularly interesting will be markets like furniture, where incumbents have massive advantages in brand delivery, and are finally bringing them to bear in a $70B market.

*          *          *

2012 was an unimaginably great year at Blueport. 2013 looks to be even more so as we continue to work with our retailers to deliver their brands online and recreate our own brand, Furniture.com. We’re looking forward to looking back with you on what will be a fascinating, fantastic year.

Blueport Commerce’s Bob Howland shares his retail e-commerce experience and why he thinks big-ticket retail is the next big thing.

What sparked your interest in e-commerce?

I think e-commerce is all about being customer-centric. In many ways, I felt pre-wired to e-commerce even before I was specifically engaged in e-commerce roles. All of my experiences in the past – whether driving customer segmentation at AMEX, competitive differentiation at GE, or brand management at J&J – were about engaging customers how they want, where they want, and when they want. The focus on end-to-end customer experience was the same across these roles and translated well to e-commerce. 

What led you to GSI?

At Vanguard in the late ‘90s, I led a charge to move the mutual fund giant from being an inbound call center to embracing the internet as a way to educate and engage retail investors. Vanguard became one of the first investment firms to enable transactions online, which was transformational for the business and the industry.  

I was enamored by how the internet transformed customer-centricity, as well as the huge branding implications for businesses. I wanted to find a company that was completely focused on the digital space with a branding and commerce focus. GSI Commerce was a natural fit as a high growth company that served as an end-to-end e-commerce provider for leading retailers. 

How did you help GSI grow to a $1B+ company? 

My expertise is centered on optimizing businesses and the customer experience. At GSI, I saw a significant opportunity to grow our current clients’ businesses as well as expand our offerings to become a more valuable partner to our clients. 

The initial successes were two-fold: 

1. First, we developed our digital marketing services capabilities. Our retail partners were already strong in offline marketing, such as weekly flyers to drive in-store traffic. So, GSI focused on the areas they needed help – online marketing – to drive dramatic increases in site traffic and overall sales.
    
2. Second, we focused on the omnichannel experience. A company’s website is often the hub for their brand. It’s always accessible and available whenever the consumer wants to touch the brand, and gets far more visibility than any other marketing vehicle (often more than ALL other marketing vehicles combined). Helping retailers fully maximize the web, not simply as their online store, but more broadly as an omnichannel tool brought huge dividends to our clients. 

Ultimately, companies such as GSI and Blueport live and breathe e-commerce every day, just as retailers do with their core store businesses. The value that we provide to our clients is the ability to bring the omnichannel opportunity to life and develop a roadmap for maximizing the opportunity. I’ve seen this approach succeed time and time again whether it is apparel, home décor, electronics, or food. Big-ticket retail has a huge opportunity to replicate this success.

Why Blueport and big-ticket?

I was looking for the right opportunity to engage with an organization, but had specific criteria for the business model fit and long-term vision. Furniture is the last $1B+ e-commerce opportunity left. And, for good reason. It’s hard to sell furniture online and drive the type of customer experience that has become standard to online retail shopping. Why? The biggest difference is the end-to-end experience and the many challenges around delivery of big-ticket items, such as sofas into homes. I think Blueport has the will, experience, and technology platform to work with our clients to create a positive and remarkable end-to-end customer experience for furniture, as Zappos did for shoes. This is the vision that Blueport and its client base share, and why I ultimately came on board.

What is it going to take for big-ticket to achieve success in e-commerce?

Consumer demand and technology proliferation leave no choice but for furniture retailers to adopt an omnichannel presence. But, that’s not all – we need to understand the need to provide an exceptional end-to-end customer experience. At Blueport, our mission is to help big-ticket retailers drive exceptional omnichannel experiences in order to optimize both online and offline sales. We want retail partners who believe in delivering these “wow” experiences and the incredible untapped growth opportunity embedded within them. 

Last week, we examined the record-breaking success of e-commerce over US Thanksgiving and Black Friday 2012, and their worldwide impact. This week we examine the numbers and impact of Cyber Monday 2012. As the only e-commerce platform, technology, and services company that localizes big-ticket retail online, Blueport Commerce breaks down the Cyber Monday 2012 holiday numbers to uncover trends and insights relevant to big-ticket retailers.

Numbers are courtesy of MultiChannel Merchant/IBM's Cyber Monday Report; ITProPortal’s Black Friday 2012 Results: $1bn Milestone Hit as Online Spending Soars, But Cyber Monday Nets Even More; Internet Retailer’s A Robust Weekend for E-Retail; The Retail Email Blog’s Alert: Record-Setting Cyber Monday Propels 5-Day Weekend Email Volume to All-Time High and MarketWatch’s Bari Furniture Reports 62% Increase for Black Friday/Cyber Monday.

Cyber Monday

Sure, the term "Cyber Monday" may feel antiquated, but the concept is current enough to be embraced by the millions of people who didn't feel like hitting the local malls or stores to wait in line for hours. Let's face it: shopping from the comfort of your desk, whether at work or at home in your pajamas, is a lot less stressful than braving the crowds and hitting local stores. And online shoppers in the United States agreed, to the tune of $1.465 billion spent on Cyber Monday, making the day the most lucrative ever for e-retailers per comScore Inc. (Internet Retailer). Some more intriguing overall statistics include:

Cyber Monday 2012 Vs. Cyber Monday 2011

• Shopping Peaks at 11:25 am EST: Consumers flocked online, with shopping momentum hitting its highest peak at 11:25 am EST (IBM).
• Mobile Shopping and Mobile Traffic Increase: On Cyber Monday more than 18 percent of consumers used a mobile device to visit a retailer's site, an increase of more than 70 percent over 2011. Mobile sales reached close to 13 percent, an increase of more than 96 percent over 2011 (IBM).
• The iPad Factor: The iPad continued to generate more traffic than any other tablet or smartphone, driving more than 7 percent of online shopping. The iPad also continued to dominate tablet traffic reaching a holiday high of 90.5 percent (IBM).
• Multiscreen Shopping: Consumers shopped in store, online and on mobile devices simultaneously to get the best bargains. Overall 58.1 percent of consumers who were in a store used smartphones compared to 41.9 percent who used tablets to surf for bargains on Cyber Monday (IBM).
• Social Sales: Shoppers referred from Social Networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube generated 0.41 percent of all online sales on Cyber Monday, a decrease of more than 26 percent from 2011 (IBM).

Blueport Cyber Monday tip: Save the best for last. Black Friday traffic was high for all websites across the world, with traffic from people scoping out deals. However, a big-ticket retailer’s best deals should be saved for Cyber Monday, which had the highest conversions, with people buying online at more than double the rate of Black Friday.

“Despite some news reports suggesting that Cyber Monday might be declining in importance, the day has once again set an online spending record at nearly $1.5 billion,” says comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “However, it is also clear that the holiday promotional period has begun even earlier this year, with strong online sales occurring on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. Now, we shall see the extent to which continuing and attractive retailer promotions are able to boost sales for the remainder of the week.”

Now what about furniture? In a trend that foreshadows the ROI potential of taking your big-ticket retail items online with e-commerce, home goods continued to grow, reporting a 26.8 percent increase in sales from Cyber Monday 2011 (IBM). Additionally, Bari Furniture, an online and brick and mortar retailer specializing in Leather Furniture, said that Black Friday and Cyber Monday produced record sales, with Black Friday sales up 59% over 2011 and Cyber Monday sales hitting an all-time record with a 64% increase (MarketWatch).

"As our selection broadens, reviews from our customers tell us that year over year growth will continue to expand for niche sites like ours that focus so closely on service, selection and value," President Tom Tilaro said.

Blueport experienced this phenomenon firsthand. One of our clients, TheRoomPlace, had their best-ever online sales day on Cyber Monday, lifting their revenue 14% from 2011. Another one of Blueport's clients, Leon's Furniture of Canada, experienced a 380% increase in revenue on Cyber Monday compared to their daily average sales. The best part of this? Leon's is actually a long-time Canadian retailer, where Thanksgiving is celebrated the month prior, meaning that Cyber Monday is truly becoming a worldwide phenomenon.

Between the success of big-ticket retail's predecessor of home goods and furniture over the holiday weekend, as well as the increased overall spending by consumers via e-commerce, Blueport Commerce remains committed to furniture as the next big category to go online.

As the 2012 Thanksgiving-Black Friday-Cyber Monday e-tailing season is behind us and we look to the December holiday season, big-ticket e-commerce retailers who sent early emails (early in both time of day sent and in advance of the Thanksgiving holiday) reaped the best rewards. Knowing that December is often the splashiest and most profitable holiday season, it’s a best practice to promote sales early and often to your loyal email subscribers and social media followers, as well as offer pre-holiday deals to your VIP customers.

Miss our Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday 2012 breakdown? Check it out here.

Even if the Grinch was an e-commerce retailer, he'd be forced to smile after the close of a landmark 2012 Thanksgiving holiday weekend. By all accounts, from Thanksgiving Thursday to Black Friday to Cyber Monday and everything in between, 2012 was a wildly successful holiday e-retailing period. And retailers have a lot for which to be thankful.

As the only e-commerce platform, technology and services company that localizes big-ticket retail online, Blueport Commerce breaks down the Thanksgiving 2012 holiday numbers to uncover trends and insights relevant to big-ticket retailers in a two-part series. Part one looks at Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday; Cyber Monday will be covered in part two.

Numbers are courtesy of IBM's Black Friday Report 2012; comScore’s Black Friday Billion: Kick-Off to Brick-and-Mortar Shopping Season Surges Past $1 Billion in E-Commerce Spending for the First Time; ITProPortal’s Black Friday 2012 Results: $1bn Milestone Hit as Online Spending Soars, But Cyber Monday Nets Even More; Internet Retailer’s E-Commerce Sales Rise 17.4% on Thanksgiving Day; SearchEngineWatch’s Black Friday E-Commerce Sales Set $1 Billion Record, 2012 Holiday Online Sales Strong; and The Retail Email Blog’s More Retailers Sent Email on Thanksgiving Than Black Friday.

Thanksgiving Day

• Strong Gains Overall: Thanksgiving Day saw strong gains on the e-commerce front, with a 32 percent year-over-year increase in online spending bringing the total for that holiday to $633 million (SearchEngineWatch).
• Promotional Email Frenzy: On Thanksgiving, more than 83% of major online retailers sent their subscribers at least one promotional email, setting an all-time record for the day. In 2011, 75% of retailers sent their subscribers email on Thanksgiving; in 2010, 60% did; and in 2009, just 45% did (Retail Email Blog).
• Record-Shattering Web Traffic: Visits to retail web sites broke records, with Akamai Technologies Inc. reporting a peak of 7.63 million page views per minute from North American consumers to the websites of its retail clients at 8:55 p.m. Eastern Time on Thanksgiving Day (Internet Retailer).

Blueport's tip: It's never too early to start promoting discounts or special offers. Don't feel limited to just Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions. And don’t think furniture has no place in these sales – it’s about more than just gifts. Even if people are buying for themselves, early awareness of deep discounts is critical to drive big-ticket online purchases. And US Thanksgiving has started to be recognized (at least for e-commerce) in Canada, with Blueport client Leon’s of Canada experiencing a traffic surge, with a visitor increase of 360% from US Thanksgiving Day 2011.This proves that Thanksgiving is now recognized outside of the US as a major e-commerce event.

Black Friday

While Black Friday traditionally conjures up images of overly caffeinated shoppers bundled up in multiple layers of clothes, camping out overnight at their favorite retail stores the night before stores open, an increasing number of consumers prefer to do all of their Black Friday shopping online. According to comScore, Black Friday saw over $1 billion in e-commerce sales for the first time ever, and a 26 percent increase versus Black Friday 2011.

“Despite the frenzy of media coverage surrounding the importance of Black Friday in the brick-and-mortar world, we continue to see this shopping day become more and more prominent in the e-commerce channel – particularly among those who prefer to avoid crowds at the stores,” said comScore chairman, Gian Fulgoni. “With Black Friday online sales up 26 percent and surpassing $1 billion for the first time, coupled with early reports indicating that Black Friday sales in retail stores were down 1.8 percent, we can now confidently call it a multi-channel marketing phenomenon.”

• Social Sales: Shoppers referred from Social Networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube generated .34 percent of all online sales on Black Friday, a decrease of more than 35 percent from 2011 (IBM).
• Mobile & Tablet Shopping: Mobile purchases (including tablet) soared with 24 percent of consumers using a mobile device to visit a retailer's site, up from 14.3 percent in 2011. Mobile sales exceeded 16 percent, up from 9.8 percent in 2011. The iPad not only dominated the tablet shoppers with 88.3% of share, it reached nearly 10 percent of all online shopping (IBM).
• Multiscreen Shopping: Consumers shopped in store, online and on mobile devices simultaneously to get the best bargains. Of the people already in a physical store, 58 percent of these consumers used smartphones compared to 41 percent who used tablets to surf for bargains while in-store on Black Friday (IBM).
• Brick-and-Mortar Sales Down: As the internet rises, in-store sales were down 1.8 per cent despite slightly improved year-on-year foot traffic amounting to 308 million visits to bricks-and-mortar retail outlets (ShopperTrak via ITProPortal).

Blueport Black Friday tip: The lack of influence of social media is surprising; particularly that it was down from 2011. While we encourage our retailers to keep an active social media presence, it's important to always link to either appropriate sale items or the homepage, allowing viewers to see upcoming promotions. And Black Friday certainly proves the importance of having a mobile-optimized website, if not a mobile app in addition, to encourage active shoppers to engage with your brand and, most importantly, transact.

Blueport client TheRoomPlace had its highest traffic of the year on Black Friday, doubling their traffic from four weeks prior. And Black Friday even hit Canada, with Leon’s increasing their visitors 33% from Black Friday 2011, proving that Black Friday is now recognized outside of the US.  

Blueport Commerce and our clients are thrilled with the increase in e-commerce purchases of the 2012 Thanksgiving holiday season. While Thanksgiving and Black Friday have traditionally been thought of as in-store retail events, this year’s online spending numbers prove that more and more consumers are moving to an e-commerce model for the convenience, discounts, and promotions.

Let us know – did you see improvements – or disappointments – during these two days?

Part two of this series next week will examine Cyber Monday 2012’s numbers and trends.

It is inevitable that any retailer in the e-commerce space will aspire to be the success story that is Amazon, no matter how unrealistic that dream may be. As an e-commerce site that was born in 1994 as a seller of used books, Amazon has morphed into a Goliath in the industry, becoming the dominant retailing marketplace for products ranging from books to electronics to food. With its low prices, rapid delivery and huge inventory, Amazon poses a threat to retailers in all industries.

“It is coming down to convenience, assortment and price,” said the operator of a Los Angeles area consumer electronics retailer to HFN. “And Amazon is beating us on all three fronts.”

However, there are steps furniture retailers can take to counteract Amazon.com before they find themselves floundering like former retail giant Best Buy. We at Blueport Commerce, the only e-commerce technology and services company that localizes furniture online, have our retailers place an emphasis on service, product knowledge and convenience to ensure customer loyalty and retention.

1. Service

While Amazon is known for their accommodating customer service, our clients can actually benefit from showrooming, which extends a personalized touch that Amazon itself can't offer. Shoppers in a brick-and-mortar store may be tempted to see, touch and feel a piece of furniture they like, and then immediately try to find it for less online on their mobile device. With the help of experienced, knowledgeable salespeople in the brick-and-mortar store, as well as an e-commerce website optimized for mobile, plus a mobile app, furniture retailers can turn showrooming from a lost opportunity into a closed sale by keeping the buyer on their brand's site. Additionally, offering iPad and touch tablets loaded with inventory information as well as allowing store consumers to experience online checkout while in their store, can reach more connected consumers. 

Kathee Tesija, Target’s executive vice president of merchandising and supply chain, said it best when she said, “Do we love being a showroom? Yes, when we can book the sale.”

And we at Blueport Commerce are confident that in this case, our clients can book the sale.

2. Product Knowledge

Currently, Bed, Bath & Beyond is one retailer most at risk of losing out to Amazon. “Our work suggests there is 89 percent direct product overlap with Amazon in kitchen electrics, 83 percent in cookware and 83 percent in cutlery, all key traffic-driving categories,” said Matt Nemer, retail analyst with Wells Fargo.

Bed, Bath & Beyond is responding by changing its merchandise mix toward more exclusive products, mirroring that of Williams-Sonoma, Crate & Barrel and Pier 1 Imports, who are less vulnerable to Amazon due to name cachet and exclusive products. Bed, Bath & Beyond now has its own specialty food, as well as home textiles. In a similar vein, by offering a strong range of one-of-a-kind, name-brand products, as well as having a plethora of information about each product available both online and in-store, furniture retailers can benefit from consumers who aren't just price shopping, but are looking for durable and stylish furniture and appliances that last. 

3. Convenience

Bed, Bath & Beyond, which currently receives only 3 percent of their total sales from e-commerce, has invested heavily in improving their website and opening an 800,000-square-foot e-commerce fulfillment center in Georgia. Convenience-based improvements they are exploring include in-store pickups and returns on e-commerce purchases, identical pricing on merchandise between stores and online, more exclusives and increased private label. Like Bed, Bath & Beyond, furniture retailers who can most successfully merge the in-store and online e-commerce experiences to result in the most seamless, customer-centric experience possible will succeed. 

“Having a unique product mix, backed by a strong knowledge of the products and consumer needs, will definitely help smaller brick and mortar retailers hold off Amazon,” said Alan Mendelson, a business reporter based in Los Angeles.

Our retailers who offer quality service, a deep product knowledge and convenient ways for customers to shift between digital and physical channels are the stores who will survive as Amazon continues its rapid growth. 

As all consumers know, 'tis the season to be thankful, merry and wise – especially when shopping! And from a big-ticket retailers' perspective, it's more crucial than ever that social media be part of any e-commerce marketing campaign. No longer just for individuals, social media actually affects consumer holiday spending – for example, in 2011, 66% of Black Friday purchases resulted from social media interactions (Fast Company). Here are three ways you can make your social marketing as seasonally appropriate as possible.

1. Be Responsive

Responding in a timely manner and encouraging social sharing are critical to retail chains' success. A recent survey by Fast Company found that brands only respond to half of the posts on their social media pages. This is problematic, as 80% of users who receive a response will end up purchasing. Additionally, when a brand actively communicates with its social media followers, 28% of them will pull the trigger on a purchase specifically because of that outreach. Prioritizing real-time engagement with social media fans, aka your potential consumers, can monetize your social media investment. While this is important to keep in mind every day of the year, with the heightened activity during the holiday, a fast response could make or break the sale.

2. Don't Be Too Sales-Centric

Consumers are consistently bombarded by holiday season retail advertisements, offers and promotions. YesMail's holiday marketing survey found that campaigns aimed strongly on getting consumers to buy showed below-average engagement, while messages about holiday spirit performed much better.

"Consumers are oversaturated with holiday messages this time of year,” said Michael Fisher, president of Yesmail. "Brands have to be especially careful about not being overly promotional during the holidays, even though customers are increasingly turning to social channels to find deals."

It's important that retailers are not viewed as too pushy. When in doubt, focus on what the holiday spirit means, not pushing big-ticket retail product. An example might be a big-ticket furniture retailer sending a regularly-scheduled promotional email about the in-laws visiting during the holidays and the importance of making them feel comfortable in your guest room, while featuring a relevant bedroom collection.

3. Encourage a Social Dialogue

Facebook's mission is to "give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected." Likewise, Twitter's is to "instantly connect people everywhere to what's most important to them." Social media networks were initially concepted on the idea that people could be friends digitally, and share things that matter to them – including brands. Think of your organization as a "friend" in the sense that while obviously the bottom line ROI matters, it's key that your social media channels are seen as approachable, helpful and timely – especially at this time of year. How can you encourage a better social dialogue?

• Enable content that's easily shareable: keep your tweets and Facebook statuses concise, so they can be easily retweeted and shared.
• Similar to young children on Christmas Eve, holiday spirit never sleeps! Timing matters – schedule holiday posts for off-hours. A YesMail survey recently found almost 60% of consumers prefer to interact with brands on social media between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m., but the majority of brands run social campaigns during office hours (Business News Daily).
• For added holiday spirit, run a holiday-themed promotion, contest or offer on Facebook or Twitter via a third-party app to grow your fanbase and increase virality.

Since May 2012, consumer spending on durable goods, which includes big-ticket items such as cars, washing machines and televisions, climbed 3.6% (Benzinga). As the only e-commerce technology and services company that localizes big-ticket retail online, Blueport Commerce wishes both retailers and consumers a joyful holiday retail season, spurred by a flurry of timely, helpful and friendly social media activity.

Did you know Canadians lead the world in online engagement, with users spending an average of 45 hours online a month? Consumers in Canada are heavily engaged in social media channels, as well as online search and banking. In 2010, 8 out of 10 Canadian households (79%) had access to the internet, and over one-half of connected households used more than one type of device to go online.

Yet in contrast, Canada's internet economy is expected to grow by 7.4% a year through 2016, better than the country's overall GDP, but still lagging many global peers. And shockingly, only 1% of retail expenditures in Canada are from online transactions, compared to 8% in the United States. Compared to similarly connected nations, eMarketer notes that product assortment, payment paths and the number of online operators still lag in Canada’s e-commerce ecosystem.

So with all of these connected Canadians, one would think the consumer demand for e-commerce is there, yet the retailers aren’t. Why the disconnect? Blueport Commerce, the only e-commerce technology and services company that localizes big-ticket retail online, examines some of the reasons for e-commerce’s failure to thrive in Canada.

Lack of Government Support

The federal government could do a lot more to create incentives for the internet economy to take off, said Tawfik Hammoud, partner and managing director at BCG who worked with Google on a study on Canadian e-commerce. Hammoud points to the governments of South Korea and Australia as examples of countries that worked to get e-commerce up and running.

“Canada needs a bit of a shot in the arm to get its e-economy growing going forward and if we don't do that we'll probably lose even more in terms of the ranking,” said Hammoud.

Canadian businesses are investing 40% less in information and communications technologies, or about $2,400 less per worker, than American businesses, according to Canadian Business. This means potential vendors struggle to justify the expense of building out a channel and lack the tools to overcome the challenges.

Selection, Payment & Technology Options Lag Behind

Canada is currently lacking the large presence of small online retailers that the US has. Although 71% of small businesses purchase products online, only 18% actually sell products online. And in order for a consumer to get the selection they want, they are often forced to shop for products from other countries, such as the US or the UK. There are hefty import and tax fees involved for Canadians that choose to purchase from other countries online using a credit card. For example, a $30 shirt imported from the United States could cost as much as $58 after taxes and fees. The inflated price makes many Canadian consumers decide to visit their local brick-and-mortar retailer rather than order it online, even if they can locate the product for less online (before fees and taxes).

Even in-country Canadian credit card transaction costs are prohibitively high for Canadian merchants. Per CBC News, merchants pay two to four percent of the sale price in various transaction fees whenever they accept a credit card for payment. Money first goes to the credit card network (Visa or MasterCard in the vast majority of cases), the company that processes the payments and the merchant's bank. A Bank of Canada survey looked at the estimated cost of processing a $36.50 transaction, which was the median cash transaction in its survey. Costs broke down like this:

• Debit card: 19 cents
• Cash: 25 cents
• Credit card: 82 cents

Additionally the provincial tax system has been cited as an obstacle – in Canada, different provinces have different retail taxes and it is an onerous compliance burden for businesses to attempt to follow all of the rules, leading to less interest in e-commerce. 

And finally, with Canada being a smaller country, there is a lack of capital for funding the necessary expenditures on new technologies needed to drive e-commerce. With telecommunications, for example, this problem is further exacerbated by foreign ownership restrictions. The cost of implementing an e-commerce platform is high and many retailers are unable to currently accept online payments.

Shipping Challenges

Canada’s low population density makes shipping difficult and highly expensive for retailers – and that gets passed down to the consumers. The result is Canadians tend to research products online, but not actually make purchases via the internet, unlike Americans. Additionally, the poor showing of e-commerce as only 1% of Canada’s annual retail expenditures may also be affected by Canadians who shop online but from US retailers who ship north of the border, thus their e-commerce spending is reflected in the US’s annual retail expenditures, rather than Canada’s.

A Brighter Future

However, there is hope on the horizon. Large Canada-based retailers have begun to compete with US-based Canadian operators such as Amazon, online offerings have begun to expand, and creative solutions to supply chain difficulties have been implemented. One of Blueport Commerce's success stories, Leon's Furniture, has worked for five years to bring their furniture, electronics and appliance sales online. Their e-commerce revenue now holds its own against their physical store locations. And Canadians’ noted preference for going to brick-and-mortar stores to shopping online could work to big-ticket retailers’ advantage. Because of the consumer’s need to oftentimes see the furniture in a physical showroom, Blueport Commerce is able to localize the big-ticket retailer experience, creating an integrated shopping experience. This also applies to shipping, with consumers entering their Canadian postal code to allow for their local supply and local delivery, cutting down on shipping costs. With eMarketer predicting $35 billion in e-commerce spending by Canadians in 2016, it’s in Canada’s best interest to incentivize Canadian retailers to get their big-ticket retail items online.

Related posts:

• Move Over Omni-Channel Retailing, It’s Time for a Little Soul
• E-Commerce Leads to Smarter Brick and Mortar Retail
• Canadian Consumers Are Waiting for You Online

In the mid-1990s, it was inconceivable that people would want to buy shoes online. Yet in 1999, Zappos was born, became a giant in the e-commerce industry and now brings in a cool $1 billion in revenue just 13 years later. Blueport Commerce saw a similar opportunity in 2001 around selling big-ticket items online such as furniture and appliances, and launched the industry's only e-commerce technology and services company that localizes big-ticket retail online. With higher price points and slower buying cycles, big-ticket retail can take longer to reap rewards. However when a world-renowned company like BMW decides to sell cars online, it makes us feel like we're onto something big.

On June 13 in London, Ian Robertson, head of global sales at BMW, spoke with Bloomberg about online retailing and sales strategy for the new BMW i electric car. Two topics Robertson touched on are particularly relevant to big-ticket retail: pricing for big-ticket items and channel optimization.

Pricing for Big-Ticket Retail

Ian Robertson revealed that BMW will be selling the new electric icars over the internet, in addition to their traditional physical dealerships around the world. "It's clear in my mind that the actual experience that a customer has with a dealer, with a point of sale, is still the backbone of what we're going to do."

When asked if the price of the cars would be discounted online, Robertson responded, "Absolutely not. We have a very clear policy – our dealers ultimately will do the deals for vehicles. What we are not going to do is have different channels offering different price points. Our dealers are responsible for this around the world - this is not new, this is our normal business."

Although deep discounting has come to be associated with e-commerce, for example in the world of online marketplaces such as Amazon, BMW recognizes that price-slashing is not an effective technique for big-ticket retail. Or, in the words of Robertson, "This is not something that people are likely to just look on the internet...and say 'yes, that's for me....this is expensive product, and in many cases, is the most expensive product people buy. And that experience of the product, both in the physical sense and the driving sense, is a fundamental part of that actual decision."

With this insight, it is clear BMW agrees with Blueport's assessment that having two disparate buying channels, with physical stores and a branded e-commerce website competing with each other on price, is not a model for success. Blueport firmly believes that BMW is on the right track by keeping the dealers in control of setting the prices of the cars and the website being a connected and cohesive channel for optimized buying. Blueport frequently advises our big-ticket retail clients to think of their e-commerce website as a branded hub, while also being a tool to help their showrooms compete in local markets. By keeping prices consistent, bi-directional web and physical traffic allows for greater lead generation, as well as increased sales.

From Channel Conflict to Omnichannel Optimization

On the topic of potential channel conflict, between traditional dealers and online stores, Robertson stated, "It's no secret today that a very large percentage of all the customers that buy BMW have done research on the internet so when they arrive at a dealership they've almost made their decision. And we want to actually make sure that the customers have the option to do whatever they so desire."

"The worldwide dealer body remains the backbone of what we're doing with all the products for BMW....the actual availability to experience the car, to sit behind the wheel, to drive it, is a very important part. But we will have multichannel approaches which will be useable for the i products and, in time, other products as well."

Robertson mentioned the dealers in this equation as the equivalent of local heroes, with higher knowledge than any website could provide, able to interface in real time with the customer as needed and close the deal with their rapport and experience. This sets up the online and physical stores to combine for greater total sales, appealing to consumers who do internet research before arriving at a dealership, as well as those willing to pull the trigger without setting foot in a physical showroom.

Like BMW, Blueport recognizes the need for brick-and-mortar stores to work in harmony with an e-commerce presence. Blueport long ago realized that physical stores were the heart and soul of the big-ticket retail experience, with the online stores acting as an additional channel that allowed for both research, comparison shopping and added purchasing convenience. By coordinating both prices and discounting online and offline, the stores benefit from increased foot traffic of people who have researched online, but want to touch and feel the furniture or appliances in store. The web benefits from being available as a channel for people who are confident in their internet research and are ready to buy immediately, without needing to travel to a physical location or talk to a salesperson. And while it may be awhile before all cars are available online for immediate purchase, it's nice to see a world leader in the automotive industry like BMW taking that step into big-ticket e-commerce retail. 

Related posts:

• Omni-Channel Retailing 2012: Marrying the Best of the Digital and Physical Channels
• E-Commerce Leads to Smarter Brick and Mortar Retail
• With E-Commerce, How Many Physical Stores Do Retailers Really Need?
• Demandware: A Cloud E-Commerce Solution for a Category That ‘Will Never Go Online’ -- Sound Familiar?