Do You Know Where Your Customers Are? by George Shaw, CEO Pathr It’s a great feeling to see our retailers reopen nationwide. As customers, we have waited to walk into our favorite stores, eagerly finding new merchandise and admiring new floor layouts. At the same time, retailers are keen to understand how customers interact inside their physical stores. Tech innovations, especially powered by AI, can reveal insights about customers that retailers may not see in plain sight. Today, I’m excited to focus on spatial intelligence - technology that …
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Don’t Lose Your Customers Over Credit Card Fees
It all started with gasoline stations and small businesses-- you remember, the percent added to sales purchases that is passed on from the retailer to the customer. A $36 mug is assessed a three percent charge if paying by credit card but no fee if you pay cash or use a debit card. Since Covid-19, I have experienced an additional service fee when dining out and Covid-19 surcharges for restaurants and hotels… and this trend is expanding into retail. Pass-along Fees The policy of passing along service fees to the customer may not translate well …
The Direct-to-Consumer Model Is no Retail Panacea
The academician in me needs to clear up some persisting confusion about direct to consumer (DTC) -- even for those working in retail. DTC was originally a label to describe the business model of digital native brands that sold products directly to consumers through ecommerce sites. Warby Parker, Dollar Shave Club, Bonobos, Allbirds, and Glossier immediately come to mind. And of course, we all know Zappos, which in 1999 became one of the first DTC brands still supported by fierce loyalists. Its DTC value is self-evident: Amazon purchased Zappos …
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Purpose-Driven Retail
Purpose-driven retail is more than just a buzzword… it’s the new standard. Contrary to popular belief, purpose-driven retail and conscious capitalism are not the same thing. Conscious capitalism works to elevate humanity through every component of a business, while purpose-driven retail refers to a retail business built around an altruistic central purpose or core motivation. Have you heard the slogan “your vibe attracts you tribe?” The retail version would be, “Your purpose attracts your customers.” This isn’t theoretical: nearly …
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Saks: Unlocking Value, for Whom?
I will state my opinion right up front. I believe Richard Baker's move to split the Saks Fifth Avenue and its ecommerce business into separate companies, which he calls "unlocking value," is simply applying a fancy buzzword, disguising what will ultimately lead to a real estate play. The reality is somewhere, way down deep in his real estate DNA, he clearly sees his personal cash-generating machine where it always has been -- in real estate. So, don't fall for unlocking value in the retail enterprise as a strategy to improve and accelerate the …
The Point of No Return
The cost of returns is estimated at $550 billion for 2020 and the number of online returns has more than doubled. In 2020, the pandemic accelerated online purchasing with non-physical store sales ending the year up an impressive 23 percent. However, higher ecommerce sales mean higher online returns. Returns fraud is another serious issue: cybercriminal activity and returns fraud are already costing states $1.5 billion in lost taxes and over 741,000 jobs per year, according to a report by Appriss Retail and the NRF. The growing shift to digital …
The New Chief Marketing Officer
The average age of a CMO is 52 for the consumer industry segment -- and the CMO position has the shortest tenure of all C-suite executives at 3.5 years. One could argue that struggling to master the dramatic shift in the digital marketplace and evolving consumer trends has made today's CMO position a revolving door. Over the next few years, I predict the average age of a CMO will drop at least 10 years based on the need for highly proficient digital skills, keen understanding of analytics, drastic change in key marketing performance metrics and …
Grey Is the New Black
An increasing number of major brick-and-mortar retailers-led by Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and The Home Depot-will not open their doors on Thanksgiving, giving employees the day off and pushing more spending to digital channels. What's more, fewer promotions have been targeted specifically for the day after Thanksgiving, today, traditionally known as Black Friday. Over the past few years, our ramped-up consumer culture has expanded Black Friday from a one-day, to a weekend-long, to a week-long event. However, in the year of pandemic, Black …