Why Blueport for E-Commerce?

Why Blueport For E-Commerce?

As Chief Operating Office for Blueport Commerce, Morgan Woodruff is responsible for growth, business development and client management as Blueport Commerce continues to expand its big-ticket retail client base.

In this blog, you'll learn how big-ticket e-commerce is unique and how Blueport helps its clients succeed in the space.

RoomStore Re-launches Its B2C E-Commerce Site with Blueport Commerce

Tuesday, August 31, 2010 by Morgan Woodruff

We’re thrilled to share with you the new site for RoomStore, a long-time customer and one of the largest furniture retailers in the country with more than $325 million a year in sales. We launched the first RoomStore site more than five years ago and, since then, we’ve continued to evaluate and make changes to the site on a regular basis.

But with this major re-launch, we have leveraged our unique B2B e-commerce solutions to improve the online customer experience to drive cross-channel sales. Among the new features:

Precision Localization: The site automatically adjusts based on a user’s location, dynamically providing inventory, pricing, promotions, delivery details and more create a seamless cross-channel shopping experience.
Live Chat/Click-to-Call: Shoppers can now choose how they want to communicate with customer service representatives -- via online chat or phone. Dynamic icons reflect real-time availability of customer service reps including when they’re able to chat, connect via phone or request a call-back.
Collaboration Bar: Social media and other enhancements are available via a single tool on product pages, giving customers the additional resources they need for big-ticket purchases, like sharing an item with a friend, live chat or printing a store-ready page.
Shoppable Images: Interactive information tags are displayed on room settings, allowing shoppers to get information on the items in the room and add them directly to their shopping carts from the image. This feature allows customers to be as few clicks from purchasing the items they want as possible.

That is just a taste of what the new RoomStore.com offers. To learn about all of the innovative features, check out the press release.

Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce

Nordstrom Links Online/Offline Inventory to Increase Multichannel Sales

Friday, August 27, 2010 by Morgan Woodruff

The New York Times had a fascinating piece this week about how multichannel retailer Nordstrom is reaping the rewards of integrating its online and offline inventory.

When shopping on Nordstrom.com, consumers are able to see what items are in stock in the Web warehouse as well as what is in stock in Nordstrom stores. This means that if a particular item is out of stock online, customers can quickly search for it across Nordstrom’s 115 retail store network and, even if just one single SKU of that product is left in the most remote retail store location, it would be displayed in the ecommerce store, and store employees would ship it to the Web customer.

Nordstrom has seen immediate and quite remarkable results from this initiative. In the 11 months since Nordstrom made the inventory change, its same-store sales have increased 8 percent and have outperformed the department store average. The number of customers who buy products after searching for an item in the ecommerce store have doubled. But, in my opinion, one of the most important benefits for Nordstrom has been that its inventory is moving faster, and often at high prices.

The fact is that consumers don’t want to have to think about what "channel" they are shopping -- the most important thing to them is getting the product they want when they want it. Today, a consumer may do research on your ecommerce store, visit your physical retail location to see the product firsthand and perhaps even do some price comparisons on their mobile phone, in any given order. Where they make the final purchase is really not as important as ensuring they get the information and products they need, and that all of the information they get is consistent and accurate.

What Nordstrom has done is still considered unusual in the industry. But, it’s at the heart of big-ticket multichannel retail and an ecommerce strategy inherent to the ecommerce services we provide our clients. I'm certain we will be seeing more retailers adopt this strategy in the near future.

Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce

Leon's Furniture Earnings Jump 41.7% in Q2

Wednesday, August 25, 2010 by Morgan Woodruff

Congratulations to Blueport Commerce client Leon's Furniture on a highly successful second quarter.

A Canadian multi-channel retailer, Leon's Furniture recently reported a 41.7% earnings jump in Q2. Leon's cited the increase was mainly the result of higher sales, an improvement in margins as well as the retailer's continued commitment to improving productivity and expansion.

Check out their Blueport-powered ecommerce site for more information about the company: www.leons.ca.

Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce

Arhaus Furniture's Custom iPad App Aims to Drive Cross Channel Sales

Thursday, August 19, 2010 by Morgan Woodruff

Arhaus Furniture, a high-end furniture multi channel retailer with stores in 13 states in addition to a print catalog and an e-commerce site at Arhaus.com, will soon arm their entire delivery team with an iPad application aimed at not only enhancing the product delivery experience, but also driving repeat and incremental purchases from their customer base.

The application is designed primarily for customer use: customers will be handed the iPad at the start of the delivery, which will include a welcome and thank you message from the retailer, will be able to look at different furniture setup options and even browse the entire Arhaus ecommerce catalog. Customers will also sign off on deliveries using their fingers on the touch screen and will also be able to fill out a post delivery survey on site.

While the iPad application will certainly result in efficiencies in the retailer’s fulfillment and delivery systems, what is interesting here is how the company is adding another level to their customer service experience through a true cross channel retail strategy. For example, while a customer is having a sofa delivered that they purchased at their local store, they will be able to browse the Arhaus.com ecommerce catalog through the iPad app for the matching chair they recall seeing during their shopping trip.

No doubt that we will continue to see more and more retailers integrate these type of mobile and tablet products into their multi channel strategy to enhance their customers' retail shopping experience, be it in-store or on the go. And as retail channels become increasingly blurred and intertwined, the importance of having consistent content and product information for your customer no matter where they are shopping will be imperative and essential to driving sales.

How are your stores or franchises integrating technologies such as the iPad into their sales or customer service process?

Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce

Local E-Commerce:
The GSI Commerce Perspective

Friday, August 6, 2010 by Morgan Woodruff

Forrester’s e-commerce analyst Brian Walker recently featured a great interview with GSI Commerce founder and CEO Michael Rubin on his blog. Rubin discussed how GSI is evolving and what some of the main areas of focus will be for the company in the near future.

One of the most interesting things that stood out for me from their conversation was Rubin’s identification of localization as one of the next key e-commerce trends to watch in the near future. Consumers are increasingly demanding more personal, relevant and local products and services from their online shopping experience. Consequently, retailers will need to invest in technologies that cater to these local preferences to capitalize on the consumer need.

Part and parcel to a localized e-commerce experience is the expectation of rapid and lower cost delivery and return of products. In order to deliver on this promise, Rubin points out that multichannel retailers will need to leverage their stores and distribution centers to get consumers the products they want as quickly and cheaply as possible. This is an area where GSI is investing a great deal of time to provide innovation.

We have been focusing on e-commerce localization at Blueport Commerce for the last decade. Like GSI, we believe this is at the heart of the next generation of e-commerce, or rather, the next generation of cross-channel retailing. Whether they are shopping for a new piece of clothing or a new piece of furniture for their home, consumers want their retail experience to be local. They want the comfort of knowing they can connect with retailers in their area, who can answer questions about the product, or handle exchanges or returns quickly and easily.

In order to deliver this kind of experience, retailers need to stop thinking of e-commerce as an isolated ‘island’ within their operations and begin to construct a truly coordinated, cross-channel strategy. E-commerce teams need to be aligned with bricks-and-mortar stores as well as fulfillment and warehouse facilities. When all of these components are working as one holistic retailing effort, localization is inherent and e-commerce becomes a driver of multi-channel retail sales.

This approach is at the heart of Blueport’s e-commerce package and I am intrigued to see the innovations from GSI in this area as well.

Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce

Oh Canada!
Ecommerce Expansion North of the Border

Friday, August 6, 2010 by Morgan Woodruff

Ecommerce has not quite reached a tipping point in Canada as it has here in the U.S. But new research shows the category is poised for growth, and has also revealed some interesting insight about the Canadian online shopper that any retailer considering ecommerce expansion north of the border should consider.

According to The NDP Group, Canadians 18-24 are dominating the online shopping space and will be the key drivers of online purchasing as their income increases over the next decade.

The study found that nearly half of Canadian online shoppers go directly to retailer/manufacturer ecommerce sites, avoiding search engines. 75% of Canadian online shoppers feel free shipping would encourage them to shop online, even if delivery time took longer, and nearly half said they would like to see a wide variety of shipping and cost options. In addition, 90% of those surveyed said they would be less likely to purchase online if they had to pay to return an item.

Blueport Commerce helped one of Canada’s most successful superstores, Leon’s Furniture, launch their Canadian ecommerce store, so we have a first hand understanding of the nuances and ecommerce challenges in the Canadian online shopping market. Although it’s still early, studies like this point to the fact that Canadian consumers, just like their counterparts in the US, feel increasingly comfortable shopping online. And the critical factor to reaping ecommerce advantages, as with any ecommerce and multichannel retail effort, will be to provide consumers with a multichannel shopping experience that is convenient, flexible and tailored to their preferences.

Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce

Multichannel retailers have their work cut out for them if they want to succeed online

Thursday, July 8, 2010 by Morgan Woodruff

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

Welcome to the Splinternet Age

Friday, July 2, 2010 by Morgan Woodruff

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

E-Commerce Website Aquisitions

Friday, June 25, 2010 by Morgan Woodruff

I am intrigued by Alibaba's purchase of Vendio, expanding the Chinese company's SMB B2C internet retail strategy - what a mouthful!
This marks the third time in little more than a month that a company has announced an allocation of $100 million fund to invest in U.S. ecommerce-related businesses. The Vendio investment represents a key market for a Alibaba - Vendio has over 80,000 small buiness users on line with its U.S.-based ecommerce platform.

Live from IRCE: Drop the ‘e’ in ‘e-commerce’

Friday, June 11, 2010 by Morgan Woodruff

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

The Blueport Commerce Customer Story & Multichannel Retail Software

Thursday, June 3, 2010 by Morgan Woodruff

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 >>

GSI bolting on more to create B2C Ecommerce Software giant

Wednesday, June 2, 2010 by Morgan Woodruff

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

IBM Invests in E-Commerce

Monday, May 24, 2010 by Morgan Woodruff

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

What's Really Wrong With Online Shopping?

Tuesday, May 18, 2010 by Morgan Woodruff

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:

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.

So, while the issues addressed in both articles are legitimate concerns for the online shopping industry, we’re proud to say that they’re all things that Blueport handles for our customers. This coordination truly helps to build integrated, multichannel retail strategies.

Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce

Offering Your Customers Multiple Ecommerce Payment Solutions

Wednesday, April 28, 2010 by Morgan Woodruff

Offering your online customers flexible payment options is a no brainer. This final step in the ecommerce transaction process is critical for the customer who may very quickly abandon their cart if they cannot pay how they want to, or if checkout is not seamless and easy.

Be it credit/debit cards, PayPal, gift cards or loyalty points, providing a multitude of ecommerce payment solutions is the final component of a successful ecommerce shopping experience that drives conversion and minimizes cart abandonment.

But integrating multiple ecommerce payment solutions and checkout options into your site can be a daunting and time consuming task. Finding an ecommerce platform that supports these multiple payment options can be even more difficult.

That's why at Blueport, we make integrating multiple ecommerce payments solutions a one step process for our clients. All of the payment and checkout tools that you need are readily integrated into the Blueport ecommerce platform.

So, when your online store launches, so does a robust and flexible payments and checkout process. It's really that simple.

A Big Screen for Big-Ticket: In Defense of the iPad

Monday, April 12, 2010 by Morgan Woodruff

Recently while reading my morning blogs I was prompted to upgrade to the most recent iTunes version, the one that supports the iPad.

iTunes then separated out my apps, and I noticed an advertisement for the Gilt Groupe shopping application which was specifically tuned for the larger screen of the iPad. I flipped through the screen shots – and was immediately impressed. The iPad app instantly began to show its chops through bigger, sharper imagery – a clear win for big-ticket retailers, like Gilt.

In my opinion, imagery plays an ever increasing role in big-ticket retail, which is why the iPad has the potential to be a big win for this category. Since the decision process is longer for these high-priced items, consumers typically want to feel and experience the product on a richer level. Being able to zoom in on an item on the iPad’s big, vivid screen with the pinch of your fingers means that consumers can get a clear picture of the product like never before. They can zoom in and see the texture of a fabric or the wood grain on a table. They can literally feel like they are in the store touching this product.

This interaction with a product before a customer makes the sale is pivotal for building confidence in the big-ticket item they are buying, creating higher customer satisfaction and lower return rates. Big-ticket retailers offering iPad apps will also be virtually unlimited in the visually stimulating and interactive content they can offer their consumers.

Will you be purchasing the iPad? What are your thoughts on the big-ticket e-commerce potential of this new tool?

Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce

Ecommerce Software Packages: Which one is right for me?

Wednesday, April 7, 2010 by Morgan Woodruff

Any retailer setting up an ecommerce store or considering replatforming their current offering, knows the choices in ecommerce shopping software are endless. The landscape is wide, with numerous vendors offering ecommerce software packages.

The big-ticket retailer often finds their ecommerce shopping software choices to be even more complex. This is because their needs are inherently different. They go beyond setting up a basic online shop, to require more sophisticated merchandising capabilities and fulfillment, and an ability to understand their unique business models. Performing an ecommerce software comparison seems an impossible task.

So where do you start in your decision making process? Here are two initial points to consider:

1. Start by evaluating your current ecommerce shopping software or the retail systems you use to run your business. Many big-ticket retailers find their systems are not ecommerce ready, and that they may pose a barrier to going online. Make sure the ecommerce software packages you are considering are able to seamlessly integrate with your current systems. At its best, your online ecommerce solution should be able to extract the data found in your current systems, augment for e-commerce, then return completed ecommerce transactions to you that are indistinguishable from orders placed in your stores.

2. Make your ecommerce store an extension of your bricks and mortar store, not an island in itself. Look for an ecommerce software package that treats your SKUs, prices and your product information exactly like store orders from a fulfillment and service perspective. This is a fundamental difference between ecommerce shopping software for mass merchants, and that which is geared towards big-ticket retailers. The result is less work, higher customer satisfaction and a reduced need to develop separate staff or procedures for online sales. E-commerce becomes another store, seamlessly integrated with your strategy, operations and reporting.

Finding an ecommerce service provider that meets these inital criteria is the first step in setting up your ecommerce store and capitalizing on the advantages of e-commerce.

Finding the Path to Easy Ecommerce

Wednesday, March 31, 2010 by Morgan Woodruff

Implementing an ecommerce strategy opens possibilities for your business — increased sales online and in stores, more efficient marketing, and direct one-to-one communication with your customers to name a few.

Whether this is the first time you are selling online or you are coming back to give it a second try, Blueport Commerce walks you through this transformation step-by-step to make ecommerce easy.

With more than a decade of experience in helping big-ticket retail make the leap into e-commerce, we not only understand your business and your market, but we also understand the hurdles you will face along the way. Our managed ecommerce solutions help retailers drive their multichannel strategy and make the transition to ecommerce easy, worry-free and profitable.

Ecommerce will impact every aspect of your organization, each in different ways. From IT, to merchandising, to operations and even right down to your in-store staff:

Merchandising: Meticulously presenting your product to its best advantage, we introduce your customers to the breadth of your merchandise without their having to leave home.

Marketing: We understand the complexities of big-ticket retail marketing and will work to make e-commerce an integral, invaluable component of your marketing strategy.

Operations: We share retailers' passion for efficiency and service — in fact, we believe that e-commerce can't succeed in a category like big-ticket without it. We cut our teeth in furniture — arguably the most challenging of fulfillment problems. Our platform and processes are designed to make shipping a sofa — or your product — as easy as calling UPS.

Finance: Incremental e-commerce growth sounds good, but what will it cost? What are the risks? Our business model is designed to answer these questions, making e-commerce a positive ROI effort almost immediately.

Store: We understand that the biggest impact of ecommerce is in your stores and we have implemented technology and services to send you as many educated, easy-to-close customers as possible making e-commerce easy and a positive ROI effort almost immediately.

IT: In our ten years of experience in working with retail chains to deploy e-commerce systems, we've seen it all. We'll work with your existing infrastructure and processes and translate them into an effective e-commerce strategy.

Our goal? Use our infrastructure and experience to take what you've built online, as efficiently and robustly as possible

Ecommerce Hardware: The Benefits of Ecommerce Outsourcing

Tuesday, March 30, 2010 by Morgan Woodruff

Most retailers looking to make the foray into ecommerce are quickly hit with the high capital investment required for ecommerce hardware, network equipment and hosting.

In addition to price, there are security regulations to consider. The impact of down time on your website and stores can be disastrous.
The entire process is complex, expensive and challenging to maintain. Its especially daunting to a retailer that is just stepping into the ecommerce arena and is already juggling with a multitude of factors to get their online store up and running.

Its easy to see the benefits of ecommerce outsourcing for ecommerce hardware and hosting. Not only does outsourcing of ecommerce hardware help drive down the operating costs for the retailer, but the right hosting solution will help ensure minimal down time.

Blueport's ecommerce platform is hosted by us. We buy everything that is required to keep your store live and make the process as easy for you as possible - the ecommerce hardware, operating systems, network equipment, bandwidth. Our scale drives down prices while the retailer gets worry-free (and cap-ex free) ecommerce hardware.

In addition, we provide ecommerce hardware maintenance, expansion and upgrades as well as operating system upgrades. We also provide 24x7 support, meaning no late night or weekend headaches for the retailer. Leaving you to focus on running the online store from the business side, not the technical one.

That's just one of the ways Blueport Commerce makes ecommerce easy.

Why Blueport for E-Commerce?Blueport.com