Marketing Tactics

Social commerce is finally here.

Various retailers and social media platforms have been experimenting with letting consumers make purchases directly from social networks for some time. But in the past few weeks a flurry of new and expanded social commerce options have been introduced.

Restoration Hardware unveiled its newest store concept, one aimed at a more modern sensibility than its existing stores.

The retailer says its new brand, RH Modern, aims to offer one of the most fully integrated assortments of modern furnishings, lighting and décor under one brand in the world. The multichannel business debuts with its own 540-page magazine-catalog hybrid, a dedicated website, and a significant retail presence, including a standalone RH Modern store.

Restoration Hardware has opened a new format that redefines the retail experience and has CEO Gary Friedman calling it the company’s finest work to date.

The retailer says its new brand,  RH Modern, aims to offer one of the most fully-integrated assortments of modern furnishings, lighting and décor under one brand in the world. The multi-channel business  debuts with its own 540-page magazine-catalog hybrid, a dedicated website, and a significant retail presence, including a standalone RH Modern store.

GameStop is joining Staples in what could be new trend this year of retailers just saying no to opening on Thanksgiving Day.

GameStop announced Monday that its stores will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. GameStop’s other brands such as Spring Mobile, Simply Mac, Cricket Wireless stores, and the new ThinkGeek retail store will also be closed on Thanksgiving Day.

Amazon.com now allows sellers to promote products with keyword targeted ads and cloud-based e-commerce solutions provider ChannelAdvisor is ready to help sellers take advantage of the sponsored products feature.

ChannelAdvisor Corp. announced its support Monday for Amazon’s Advertising API (application programming interface), becoming the first e-commerce solution provider to offer this support.

The world’s largest social network is testing new e-commerce eatures, including a dedicated shopping section, Re/code reported. Facebook’s push comes as other social sites, including Twitter, are exploring social shopping.

The retail revolution may not be televised, but it will be digitized.

The new Q3 E-commerce Pulse from predictive analytics platform provider Custora shows that e-commerce revenue grew a healthy 11.8% year-over-year in third quarter 2015. E-commerce transactions rose an almost identical 11.6%.

Mobile continued to grow in significance as a channel for e-commerce in the quarter. Phones and tablets made up a combined 28.7% of e-commerce transactions, up from 23.1% of orders during the same time the prior year.

Twenty-three year SPECS attendee Randy Pannell, VP of construction for Saks Fifth Avenue, shares his thoughts on SPECS, Chain Store Age’s annual store planning/construction and facilities conference, which will be held March 13-15, 2016, in Dallas. For more on the event, click here.

Why do you attend SPECS each year?
To be honest, in the early years, SPECS was really just a trade show to me. But I soon realized that it was more than that. It really worked!