Loyalty Marketing

Although social commerce is still relatively new, it appears to be quickly gaining acceptance with consumers.

According to a new survey of more than 1,500 U.S. consumers from Citi Retail Services, social commerce, or the concept of using social media to drive sales, is evolving and growing at a faster pace than all other online channels. And shoppers are buying in.

Retailers, are you prepared for the millennial effect?

Born roughly between 1980 and 2000, millennials, are poised to cause a tidal shift in the retail industry because of their spending power and unique characteristics that greatly influence how and what they purchase. According to Advertising Age, millennials will spend more than $200 billion annually starting in 2017 and $10 trillion in their lifetimes.

Easier shopping every day is the value proposition Walmart touting this holiday season as it contends shoppers are tired of pricing games played by other retailers.

As it does every holiday season, Walmart claims it will have low prices on a broad assortment and the hottest holiday items, but it is also touting an improve store experience and a strengthened omnichannel approach.

Regional department store retailer Belk Inc. is using social media to make the holidays a little more fun and rewarding for its shoppers.

Gordmans Stores is taking a POS-centric approach to improving the store experience.

Nebraska-based Gordmans, a discount department store chain with 101 locations, has engaged with retail solutions provider OLR to implement Oracle Retail Xstore Point of Sale (POS) and Oracle Retail Customer Engagement.

Consumers are making more e-commerce transactions, and smartphones are helping to drive growth.

According to the new Q3 2015 Performance Index report from e-commerce technology platform MarketLive, e-commerce sales continue to improve across all retailer categories (apparel, beauty, home furnishings, catalog, brick-and-mortar, and brand-direct), and across all major performance metrics. These include revenues (+13.5%), traffic (+19.8%), and average order value (+3.9% to $158).

When it comes to respecting their privacy, consumers are less than satisfied with the retailers they shop.

According to analysis of social sentiment of more than 220,000 consumers by Capgemini Group, “Privacy Please: Why Retailers Need to Rethink Personalization,” 93% of all consumer sentiment on retail privacy was negative

With a tremendous swath of the retail economy moving to or exclusively launching online, is the traditional role of the brick-and-mortar salesperson becoming obsolete?

Studies show consumers consistently gather information and make educated decisions when making everyday purchases through online research at home or via mobile comparison shopping. In fact, today the Internet influences more than half (52%) of U.S. retail sales – and is expected to grow to 64% by end of 2015.