Retail

Today’s consumers are always connected, interacting with companies using an array of devices and across multiple channels. Consumers’ ability to shop at any time and on any Internet-connected device gives them the freedom to choose when and where to browse.  They can access pricing, inventory, and reviews from multiple sources. They can compare pricing with shipping from multiple online retailers. And many of them do this when they’re walking around in your store.

Consumers still, and always will, want a shopping experience where they directly interact with people they trust. They also want to touch and test products before they purchase–particularly when it comes to fashion, high-tech, or big ticket items.

Comparing Amazon’s new Manhattan site, which will serve as the central distribution center for its new same-day delivery service Amazon Prime Now, to a “store” is a bit of a stretch. However, given their 17-year lease, only time will tell how much impact it has in terms of brand exposure and customer experience.  
 
But Amazon is just one of many online retailers stepping into the “clicks-to-bricks” game. Birchbox, Bonobos, Warby Parker, and Zappos have all clued into key findings about consumer shopping preferences and trends. Research has shown that consumers who have the option of shopping both online and off are spending up to four times as much as those shopping just one channel. Of course, e-retailers are hungry to capitalize on this. 

Amazon continues to dive further into e-commerce with the release of its new pricing feature “Make an Offer”.  The new “Make an Offer” tool allows Amazon to compete with online auctioneer eBay, by enabling customers to negotiate lower prices on products listed on Amazon. Sellers and buyers can negotiate through email until the deal is … Read more

One of the most popular trends today in online retailing is customers buying online and picking up in-store, a practice referred to, cleverly, in the U.K., as “click and collect.” In fact more customers are asking for the service from the retailers they most often frequent. It’s a hybrid shopping experience: Customers can purchase an item anytime anywhere and then pick it up at their convenience at the retailer. Using this delivery model, a retailer can cultivate a convenient, streamlined image to the busy consumer; in addition, some stores are quite adept at drumming up related sales — upselling — at the time of pick up.

Apple Pay rolled out last month just in time for the holiday season and the flurry of purchases that accompany it.

According to Apple, more than 10 million iPhone users are able to make purchases at 220,000 U.S. retail locations using Apple Pay.  Though Walmart, Rite Aid and CVS have rejected Apple Pay in favor of the yet-to-launch CurrentC, reports from Whole Foods that more than 1 percent of transactions are made with Apple Pay indicate that the newest digital wallet is already changing how Americans shop and buy.

Addressing customer concern over recent high-profile data breaches, Apple pay uses a combination of physical security and tokenized account processes. When a consumer uses Apple Pay, a temporary account number, advanced encryption chips in the phone and the customer’s fingerprint are all used to complete the purchase.

In a clever twist on an age-old corporate purchasing dilemma, a merged channel company has worked with Chase Paymentech to allow employees who need to make last-minute supply purchases to do so using a corporate code.

Apple Pay has a fight on its hands it seems. Drugstores CVS and Rite Aid have disabled the tech giant’s new digital wallet service in its stores, according to reports. Both retailers are part of a consortium of merchants who plan to offer their own payment system, CurrentC. Developed under the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) consortium which includes Walmart, Target and Gap as well as CVS and Rite Aid, CurrentC is positioned to rival Apple Pay and Google Wallet. It seems the battle for customers’ digital wallets has begun.

A new survey from retail technology company POPcodes has found that 86 percent of consumers who order products online and pick them up in store want to avoid shipping fees. The poll of online shoppers conducted by POPcodes, which offers a cloud-based platform that integrates e-commerce systems and in-store payment terminals through a redemption code … Read more

A retail technology startup launched at the Money 20/20 conference has developed an omnichannel redemption solution that enables customers to purchase products online and pick them up in store.

POPcodes, a Canada-based company led by North American retail executives, bridges the gap between ecommerce and physical shopping by giving consumers a code when checking out online, which they can then use to redeem purchases or promotions at the cash register.

Because POPcodes integrates with existing ecommerce platforms and in-store point-of-sale systems, it supports the entire “clicks to bricks” customer journey.

By entering their verified phone number and three-digit passcode – their personal POPcode – when in store, customers using POPcodes can redeem an online order or generate a proof of promotion at any participating location without having to print out their order confirmations or showing a photo ID.

Through POPcodes’ online API, merchants can create a proof of purchase or proof of promotion that sends data related to the consumers’ online transaction or registration for an online promotion to a variety of function-specific POP templates. These enable merchants to send a range of content (including location data, product and pricing information, product suggestions) for display and also for in-store output on demand.