Amazon as awesome or apocalyptic is a trick question. The answer requires a distinction of Amazon being awesome or apocalyptic to whom and why. If you were to simply answer the question at face value, the answer would be both. Disruption 2.0 refers to Amazon’s latest stealthy (or not) attempt to disrupt the world of physical retailing. But this time, I don’t think they know what they are in for. Maybe that’s why Jeff Bezos opted out of the Chief’s chair. Awesomeness Consumers would say Amazon is awesome for all the obvious reasons. In fact, …
Fulfillment: Retail’s New Loyalty Factor
Covid has forced many retailers to make dramatic shifts toward digital transformation of their business models. Many have successfully pivoted to offer services including BOPIS, curbside pick-up, and same-day home delivery across their digital, customer facing touchpoints. But as many customer surveys have shown, the ability to execute on the fulfillment part of that equation in aggregate has been lackluster. Why It Matters These statistics reported by Salesforce in October 2020 are all too familiar: 60 percent of customers will cancel …
What Home Buyers Want Now: 10 Post-Pandemic Priorities
The residential real estate market has been a bright spot during the pandemic-driven economic downturn that began early last year. There were initial fears that we might see a repeat of the real estate meltdown that started in 2008, when millions of homes entered foreclosure and homes lost an average of 30 percent of their market value. But so far, housing has performed better than expected. Boom Towns According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), in 88 percent of metro areas tracked, single-family, existing home prices rose by …
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The Best E-Commerce Defense Is a Good Pricing Offense
As the ecommerce market becomes competitive, a growing number of retailers are rethinking their approach to pricing to differentiate themselves, fuel online growth and protect their companies from the chronic temptation to engage in price wars. Savvy, leading retailers use pricing insights to gain agility, profitability and a competitive advantage. Competitive Ecommerce Arenas The Covid-19 pandemic led to an explosive rise in online traffic from a wide range of ecommerce sites as consumers sought products ranging from affordable essential …
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Five Macrotrends That Will Drive Traditional Retail’s Big Comeback
For the better part of a year – ever since the onset of Covid-19 – the doomsday diviners of retail have held center stage, pushing the narrative that brick-and-mortar retail will never come back, or if it does, it will surely be in some new, emasculated form that will be virtually unrecognizable to a time traveler from 2019. “Malls throughout America are suddenly running out of time,” exclaimed a recent USA Today report on the state of retail. Rhode Island’s Providence Journal went even further, stating that “the coronavirus pandemic will not …
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Will Corporate America Continue to Steer Social Policy?
Remember when retail and politics were separate entities? In the past decade, brands have been called upon to take a stance on social and environmental issues. Speaking out about incendiary policy is mainstream and no longer a role relegated to millennial-focused outdoor brands such as Patagonia and REI. The retail landscape has never been more polarized. Even Patagonia has taken a more active role in politics by openly endorsing senate candidates, lobbying for environmental issues and adding tags to clothing that say “Vote the A••holes …
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Why Those Consumer Reviews Are So Valuable
Pre-pandemic, how often did you go to a new restaurant without checking Yelp or Google reviews? The same held true for checking movie reviews. It used to be vital to check reviews before dropping double digits on a movie ticket. Now that we're buying so much online, we've reached the point where we want to know reviews for just about everything before we make a purchase. And that includes our clothes. Review Power Natalie Luneva, vice president of marketing at Wiremo, a customer review software platform, says stores and brands that add …
Virtual Fashion Is More Than Fun and Games
We have documented the evolution of the digital fashion movement here over the past year, and the early rumblings are becoming a roar. What may have been a fad is now an established a trend. Given the technological bent of the SXSW festival, it’s not surprising that virtual fashion is at the center of its fashion programming in 2021. If you consider SXSW the leading edge between the present and the near future, digital fashion is worth revisiting. Digital Fashion Is Now and Forever A series of SXSW talks presented by technologists, designers, …