Mobile not only helps to drive customers into stores – it can help close the deal once they are there. Consumers increasingly use their mobile devices as in-store shopping tools, often relying more on their phones than on price tags or salespeople.
The quick research conducted on a mobile device while in-store is frequently the final push they need to make the purchase. Retailers that facilitate the research process through mobile shopping tools synchronized with in-store execution will ultimately close more sales.
This is especially critical for retailers selling big-ticket items, as they require more research and consideration than smaller purchases. You’ll often see big-ticket customers standing in store aisles, iPhone or Blackberry in hand, researching product comparisons and reviews for the big screen TV or appliance they are about to purchase. The more sophisticated customer may also scan product barcodes in the store with their phone to instantly compare prices at different retail locations.
These mobile in-store behaviors underscore the importance of complete synchronization between pricing, promotions and selection offered in store and what your customers see via online and mobile research. Tailoring your mobile sites to a user’s location and offering localized product or promotional information consistent with your traditional website is critical to enabling customers’ mobile research.
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
Most of today’s consumers use the Internet to plan the limited time they have for brick and mortar shopping expeditions - browsing from a home (or work) computer to optimize how they will spend the discretionary hour or two they’ve allocated for shopping.
To capture this shopper, a compelling “traditional” website is a must - ideally one that is synchronized with what’s happening in local stores. With a localized website in place, retailers, especially those targeting smartphone-wielding demographics, should take the next step – capturing consumers who have already left the house.
Whether or not you believe that your products will ever sell over a phone, you can take advantage of location-based services and GPS-enabled phones to entice on the go consumers into stores. Product information, prices and nearby locations to “touch and feel” products can be ‘pulled’ through local searches by consumers. Coupons and promotions can be ‘pushed’ to a consumer’s phone based on their location.
How is your company integrating mobile into your cross-channel strategy? For more information on how other retailers are successfully using mobile to capture consumers on the go, check out this article: How Mobile Commerce Can Capture In Store Sales.
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
To capture this shopper, a compelling “traditional” website is a must - ideally one that is synchronized with what’s happening in local stores. With a localized website in place, retailers, especially those targeting smartphone-wielding demographics, should take the next step – capturing consumers who have already left the house.
Whether or not you believe that your products will ever sell over a phone, you can take advantage of location-based services and GPS-enabled phones to entice on the go consumers into stores. Product information, prices and nearby locations to “touch and feel” products can be ‘pulled’ through local searches by consumers. Coupons and promotions can be ‘pushed’ to a consumer’s phone based on their location.
How is your company integrating mobile into your cross-channel strategy? For more information on how other retailers are successfully using mobile to capture consumers on the go, check out this article: How Mobile Commerce Can Capture In Store Sales.
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
Today, Ecommerce Times features an article that I wrote on using mobile commerce to capture the in-store sale. I know what you’re thinking – “I’m a big-ticket retailer. No one is going to make a considered purchase via their mobile phone.” And you’re probably right.
But mobile commerce means more than just buying goods through your phone. Increasingly, mobile is impacting how consumers search, locate and decide to purchase goods both online and in bricks and mortar stores. As consumers are evolving into true cross-channel shoppers, the real mobile opportunity for retailers presents itself. Integrating mobile into a comprehensive cross-channel strategy ensures you are meeting your customers where -- and how -- they shop for your products today.
Give the article a read: How Mobile Commerce Can Capture In-Store Sales
I’d love to hear your feedback on Blueport’s view on how a mobile strategy can help big-ticket retailers like you.
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
But mobile commerce means more than just buying goods through your phone. Increasingly, mobile is impacting how consumers search, locate and decide to purchase goods both online and in bricks and mortar stores. As consumers are evolving into true cross-channel shoppers, the real mobile opportunity for retailers presents itself. Integrating mobile into a comprehensive cross-channel strategy ensures you are meeting your customers where -- and how -- they shop for your products today.
Give the article a read: How Mobile Commerce Can Capture In-Store Sales
I’d love to hear your feedback on Blueport’s view on how a mobile strategy can help big-ticket retailers like you.
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
That’s the latest from Goldman Sachs ... Goldman estimates that e-commerce will grow at five times the rate of traditional retail, overtaking offline retail by 2020. Not surprisingly, the most successful retailers will be the ones that invest most heavily in technology to keep up with demand.
Goldman notes that while online pure plays already realize the importance of investing in Web technologies, multi-channel retailers will be challenged to keep up with their pace of innovation and e-commerce spending. While pure play e-tailers spent 7% of their revenue on e-commerce technology in 2008, multi-channel retailers only spent 2%.
This is an important consideration for Blueport and our customers, who are predominantly multi-channel or brick and mortar retailers in the early stages of their e-commerce development. While they will certainly not be able to keep up with the e-commerce budgets of mammoths like Amazon, they will be challenged to harness the right e-commerce innovations that bring in the most bang for the buck, generating the most leads and driving cross-channel sales.
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
Goldman notes that while online pure plays already realize the importance of investing in Web technologies, multi-channel retailers will be challenged to keep up with their pace of innovation and e-commerce spending. While pure play e-tailers spent 7% of their revenue on e-commerce technology in 2008, multi-channel retailers only spent 2%.
This is an important consideration for Blueport and our customers, who are predominantly multi-channel or brick and mortar retailers in the early stages of their e-commerce development. While they will certainly not be able to keep up with the e-commerce budgets of mammoths like Amazon, they will be challenged to harness the right e-commerce innovations that bring in the most bang for the buck, generating the most leads and driving cross-channel sales.
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
Shop.org and Forrester released the latest installment of their joint “The State of Online Retailing” research series (a survey of 109 retailers).
Let’s take a look at the major findings:
Mobile on the Mind:
How does this align with your priorities?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
Let’s take a look at the major findings:
Mobile on the Mind:
- Nearly three-quarters (74%) of online retailers either already have or are developing a mobile strategy
- One in five boasts having a fully implemented mobile strategy in place already
- Retailers are spending nearly 40% of their marketing budget on paid search
- Listening to customers is the most significant objective for social tools, with 80% of retailers reporting that they are pursuing social strategies to experiment and learn
- While 28% noted that social marketing has helped grow their business, direct sales from social tactics are not widely measured
How does this align with your priorities?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
Forrester analysts recently coined the term “Splinternet” to describe what is happening to the unified Web. Consumers are not just accessing information from the Internet these days, but from smartphones, tablets, e-readers and even Web-connected TVs. And, as you know, each one of these devices has their own platform and standards. This creates a new set of challenges for retailers, as your site might not work correctly on these devices. Gone are the days when you simply have to optimize your site for different browsers. Welcome to the Splinternet Age.
According to a recent presentation by Forrester’s Brian Walker, an added complexity is the need to target consumers by context, not just channel. This complexity, he says, is driving a lot of the replatforming that is taking place at large, multichannel retail chains.
Brian advises that organizations “start to break down silos that stop us from serving customers overall.”
How is your company addressing these issues? I'd love to hear from you.
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
According to a recent presentation by Forrester’s Brian Walker, an added complexity is the need to target consumers by context, not just channel. This complexity, he says, is driving a lot of the replatforming that is taking place at large, multichannel retail chains.
Brian advises that organizations “start to break down silos that stop us from serving customers overall.”
How is your company addressing these issues? I'd love to hear from you.
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
Wondering if email is on the way out? Not so fast, says the latest study from ExactTarget. Part 1 of their new research study looks at the Digital Morning - what do consumers interact with at the beginning of the day and more importantly WHY. According to the study, those 58% who check email first are the ones looking for promotions, new products and coupons from their preferred brands.
At the very least, we think this underscores the importance of making sure you're sending your emails at the best time of day for your customers.
What will you do with these new insights?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
At the very least, we think this underscores the importance of making sure you're sending your emails at the best time of day for your customers.
What will you do with these new insights?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
Last week, I wrote about the rise in consumers’ intent to purchase big-ticket items (see: Intent to Purchase Big-Ticket Rising - Ready to Catch the Wave?). This week, Pricegrabber issued a new report stating that 52% of the online consumers think the recession will end by January 2012. The part of this survey that really caught my eye is that 56% of respondents said they have already bought a big-ticket item this year (and this survey was conducted as early as February!). Encouraging news for big-ticket retailers - particularly those in the home improvement category, as 16% plan to buy home improvement items.
So what does this mean for big-ticket retailers? Look at the consumers surveyed – online shoppers. Whether these consumers ultimately purchase their big-ticket items online or in-store is up for debate, but I’m willing to bet that before they make any plans, they will be visiting your website during the research phase. Are you – and your website – ready?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
So what does this mean for big-ticket retailers? Look at the consumers surveyed – online shoppers. Whether these consumers ultimately purchase their big-ticket items online or in-store is up for debate, but I’m willing to bet that before they make any plans, they will be visiting your website during the research phase. Are you – and your website – ready?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
This week while attending the Internet Retailer Conference & Expo in Chicago, I sat in on a session called “What top execs need to know about the future of e-commerce platforms,” which was presented by Forrester’s Brian Walker. In this session, Walker brought something up that we have been debating internally at Blueport Commerce for a while – whether we still need the ‘e’ in ‘e-commerce.’
Because we specialize in “big-ticket” retail, a lot of the companies we work with use their e-commerce sites not only to sell direct to consumers, but also to educate shoppers who will ultimately make their purchase in a local store. So we tend to think of our platform as cross-channel and not solely ‘e-commerce’.
Walker went on to say that Forrester (which typically has conservative estimates compared to other analysts firms) believes 51% of all retail sales will be made or researched online by 2013. He also pointed out that e-commerce sites will not be driving all those sales. With the emergence of new devices like the iPad, consumers will be shopping from nearly everywhere – TRUE multi-channel shopping. And if that’s the case, the term ‘e-commerce’ will address only a piece of the entire commerce pie.
What do you think? Is it about time we drop the ‘e’ in ‘e-commerce’?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
Because we specialize in “big-ticket” retail, a lot of the companies we work with use their e-commerce sites not only to sell direct to consumers, but also to educate shoppers who will ultimately make their purchase in a local store. So we tend to think of our platform as cross-channel and not solely ‘e-commerce’.
Walker went on to say that Forrester (which typically has conservative estimates compared to other analysts firms) believes 51% of all retail sales will be made or researched online by 2013. He also pointed out that e-commerce sites will not be driving all those sales. With the emergence of new devices like the iPad, consumers will be shopping from nearly everywhere – TRUE multi-channel shopping. And if that’s the case, the term ‘e-commerce’ will address only a piece of the entire commerce pie.
What do you think? Is it about time we drop the ‘e’ in ‘e-commerce’?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
In case you missed it, earlier this week our friends at e-Dialog issued a new report titled “Manifesto for E-Mail Marketers: Consumers Demand Relevance.” The report is based on a survey of 2000 consumers in the US and UK conducted by Forrester Consulting.
The report reveals that marketers need to know their customers’ preferences before hitting the ‘send’ button if they want them to open and respond to the e-mail. Specifically, consumers want marketers to know:
So the real question is, how well do you know your customers?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
The report reveals that marketers need to know their customers’ preferences before hitting the ‘send’ button if they want them to open and respond to the e-mail. Specifically, consumers want marketers to know:
- The types of products or services they like (64%)
- The types of offers they like (61%)
- Whether they are a new or returning customer (54%)
- Their communications preferences (47%)
- Their shopping habits such as online searching, in-store visits & catalog purchases (36%)
So the real question is, how well do you know your customers?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
Adweek points out "a growing inclination by consumers to spend on purchases they've deferred during the economy's downturn" including furniture, appliances and carpeting.
A return to the good old days for big-ticket retailers? Not so fast.
ATG just released a report noting that in the last year, more people browsed for products online (92%) than in stores (84%), with mobile making a strong showing at 27%.
Consumers are coming back into the big ticket market - but how you reach them is radically different than it was in the last boom.
The next wave is coming - online. Ready to catch it?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
We were the first Akamai e-commerce client, more than 11 years ago. Our hosted Multichannel E-Commerce platform is more effective with partners like Akamai rounding out our offering.
Here is a link to a video (featuring Carl Prindle, President and CEO of Blueport Commerce) that describes well Blueport's E-Commerce applications and specifically how our long time expertise in Internet retail strategies has allowed Blueport to win clients again and again.
Watch the video >>
Here is a link to a video (featuring Carl Prindle, President and CEO of Blueport Commerce) that describes well Blueport's E-Commerce applications and specifically how our long time expertise in Internet retail strategies has allowed Blueport to win clients again and again.
Watch the video >>
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
GSIC snapping up another company today!
This morning, GSI announced the acquisition of FetchBack, an online marketing company with a proprietary retargeting and analytics platform. FetchBack is GSI’s 5th acquisition this quarter, and Blueport believes this will help to round out the Marketing Services segment with a complementary service offering. Who's next?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
This morning, GSI announced the acquisition of FetchBack, an online marketing company with a proprietary retargeting and analytics platform. FetchBack is GSI’s 5th acquisition this quarter, and Blueport believes this will help to round out the Marketing Services segment with a complementary service offering. Who's next?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
This week IBM announced its plans to acquire Sterling Commerce, an e-commerce company and provider of cross-channel fulfillment solutions, for $1.4 billion. While IBM already participates in e-commerce with its WebSphere division, the integration of Sterling Commerce will add collaboration, communication and integration solutions for fulfillment, as well as a stellar client list with more than 18,000 customers worldwide, including 80% of the Fortune 500 list.
From a technology standpoint Craig Hayman, general manager of IBM's WebSphere division noted that the cloud computing model which Sterling employs is attractive to IBM. He also noted that many of IBM’s current customers are looking for easy-to-scale solutions, which make them great candidates for migration into the cloud.
From an industry perspective, it’s great to see giants like IBM expanding their reach into e-commerce as it further validates our fast-growing industry. The move will help IBM to better position itself against the likes of tech giants HP, Cisco, and SAP. It also represents a greater business goal of the company, which is to grow through acquisition. IBM has said that the company plans to spend $20 billion on acquisitions by 2015 and its purchase of Sterling Commerce is certainly a good start.
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
Last week TIME’s Brad Tuttle posted an article, “What's Wrong with Online Shopping” which expanded upon a recent interview with Paco Underhill (environmental psychologist and author of the book Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping), that can be found on the WSJ’s Digits blog. Both posts are worth reading for anyone doing multichannel commerce because they focus on the disconnect between online and brick-and-mortar versions of the same stores.
It’s a fact that the majority of consumers shop across channels, often researching online and closing the sale in store. Yet, as Underhill points out, many retailers are still treating their online and offline channels as separate entities - something that often leads to customer confusion and eventual loss of sales.
Some of the biggest disconnects are ones that Blueport overcomes with ease for our customers:
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
It’s a fact that the majority of consumers shop across channels, often researching online and closing the sale in store. Yet, as Underhill points out, many retailers are still treating their online and offline channels as separate entities - something that often leads to customer confusion and eventual loss of sales.
Some of the biggest disconnects are ones that Blueport overcomes with ease for our customers:
- Price Inconsistency – Inconsistency in pricing between in-store and online very quickly leads to customer frustration and more often than not, leads potential customers right into the competition’s arms. Blueport’s Price Sync feature ensures that pricing is consistent not just online and in-store, but based on each customer’s location as well - automatically.
- Inventory Inconsistency –Underhill’s interview describes a scenario that most of us know all too well: making a trip to the store to purchase a product you have been researching online, only to discover it’s not actually available in your local store. Getting a clear, real-time view of inventory levels across all stores is a challenge for most retailers, but it’s truly one of our sweet spots at Blueport. We automatically update inventory levels based on a customer’s location, so whether your customer is shopping in-store or online, they will always have an accurate view of what’s in stock.
- Delayed Shipping Cost Info – This is often a make or break issue for big-ticket items – customers need to know all of the information involved in their purchase and unexpected shipping costs or delays can easily be a deal breaker. Expertise in shipping and delivery is one of Blueport’s core strengths. This includes clearly marked pricing, timing and logistics based on the items purchased and the customer’s location.
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
Still on the fence about mobile commerce? You're not alone according to eMarketer according to a recent article "Multichannel Retailers Upgrade, but Not to Mobile." I was glad I clicked through this one as it was more interesting than the title implied. Because not only are retailers being cautious, consumers are too! Currently 79% of retailers aren't doing m-commerce, and 73% of internet users have never researched products on a mobile device and 87% have never purchased an item on a mobile device.
Whether it's cause and effect (no retailer sites means no shopping), or just the reality of shopping on a 3 1/2 inch screen , I think it's OK for retailers to wait and see on m-commerce. Perhaps we'll just skip it altogether for p-commerce (iPad)?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
Whether it's cause and effect (no retailer sites means no shopping), or just the reality of shopping on a 3 1/2 inch screen , I think it's OK for retailers to wait and see on m-commerce. Perhaps we'll just skip it altogether for p-commerce (iPad)?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
Last week e-Dialog, a division of GSI Commerce and a Blueport partner, announced the acquisition of database marketing firm MBS for approximately $22.5 million cash. This announcement follows closely on the heels of last month’s acquisition of mobile services company M3.
What does this mean for e-Dialog?
These acquisitions are all about the data. e-Dialog not only gains a wealth of data acquisition and integration technology, it also leverages interesting consumer behavioral insights and patterns. This technology will help the company to better collect, analyze and act on customer data across channels. We believe this will only strengthen e-Dialog’s already great targetingimpressive data segmentation capabilities.
What does this mean for the industry?
John Rizzi, CEO of e-Dialog noted that the average multichannel retailer does about 7% of revenue online and 93% in stores – yet most retailers do not tie those customer activities together or create strategies that are truly cross-channel. The missed opportunities resulting from this lack of integration are glaring.
As consumers’ shopping behavior (be it for mass products or high-ticket items) becomes increasingly cross-channel, retailers must be ready to meet them where they shop – be it in the store, online or through mobile – or risk losing the sale. That means that it’s increasingly essential for companies to be able to integrate their databases across channels to create a ‘single view’ of each customer.
e-Dialog’s ability to integrate email, point of sale, mobile, social media and online databases will prove to be a competitive differentiator which will push others in the industry to further innovate to keep up.
We look forward to continuing working with e-Dialog to provide our clients with the very best in multi channel marketing services.
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
What does this mean for e-Dialog?
These acquisitions are all about the data. e-Dialog not only gains a wealth of data acquisition and integration technology, it also leverages interesting consumer behavioral insights and patterns. This technology will help the company to better collect, analyze and act on customer data across channels. We believe this will only strengthen e-Dialog’s already great targetingimpressive data segmentation capabilities.
What does this mean for the industry?
John Rizzi, CEO of e-Dialog noted that the average multichannel retailer does about 7% of revenue online and 93% in stores – yet most retailers do not tie those customer activities together or create strategies that are truly cross-channel. The missed opportunities resulting from this lack of integration are glaring.
As consumers’ shopping behavior (be it for mass products or high-ticket items) becomes increasingly cross-channel, retailers must be ready to meet them where they shop – be it in the store, online or through mobile – or risk losing the sale. That means that it’s increasingly essential for companies to be able to integrate their databases across channels to create a ‘single view’ of each customer.
e-Dialog’s ability to integrate email, point of sale, mobile, social media and online databases will prove to be a competitive differentiator which will push others in the industry to further innovate to keep up.
We look forward to continuing working with e-Dialog to provide our clients with the very best in multi channel marketing services.
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
Blueport Commerce Reaction: Been there, done that… (since 2001).
In March, Google announced its plans to move into yet another new area – local inventory search. Through a new deal with Best Buy, Sears, Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn and the Vitamin Shoppe, Google will begin experimenting with localized search for inventory at brick and mortar retailers. Using the system, a consumer could search for a specific item and in theory find the store closest to their location with the item in stock.
Perhaps the most interesting part of Google’s strategy is that rather than waiting for retailers to have their own online local inventory strategy in place and then making it searchable, (a more typical model, where a search engine helps consumers find data) the company is developing its own system in conjunction with these retailers (in effect, trying to create data).
This new ground for search is causing some growing pains for Google, as their retailers have not uploaded full inventory lists, making the system inaccurate. According to StoreFront BackTalk’s Evan Schuman, Google’s inventory search also forces users to select specific models, rather than allowing searches for broader product categories. Customers may know model numbers for some products, but for many categories, consumers may not have a clue as to the model number they are looking for (home furnishings? flooring?). And finally, let’s face it – so far, few retailers keep track of their local inventory online, making it extremely difficult to provide accurate local search results.
It’s clear that a system like this has tremendous potential. And, Google’s interest reinforces to a key fact - when it comes to big-ticket retail online, localization is crucial. Most cross-channel shopping is for big ticket items. To sell these items, you need a great local online presence, seamlessly linking your website, local inventory, and stores.
In time, Google will likely work out the kinks. In the meantime, Blueport Commerce already provides its customers with websites with that provide fast, accurate, local inventory search as part of the company’s core localization strategy. We’ll continue to look to Google to help consumers find our customers’ great, localized shopping experiences, but we’ll take care of building them ourselves.
E-commerce 1.0 = All Store, No Stuff: E-commerce efforts often focus on technology, particularly in selling e-commerce 1.0 categories. Decisions on what text or button goes where or removing a field from a checkout form (the “online store”) can make a difference in convincing someone to purchase a simple, well-understood, impulse item. In selling big ticket categories online, however, obsessing over these areas while ignoring basic online retailing is perilous.
Big Ticket E-commerce = Content, Content, Content: Start with the big questions: Do you have the right products? Richly and accurately merchandised? At the right price? Are you solving a customer’s problem (an installed floor in a week, a sofa in two days, removal of an old refrigerator)? Like you do in your stores, focus on your offering (the stuff) first, then optimize your e-commerce store around your offering. In big ticket e-commerce categories, if you get the “stuff” right, customers will work with you on the store.
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
Powered by Compendium Blogware