Business Intelligence (BI)

Literally hundreds of considerations go into designing an app, but the success of your app hinges largely on one factor: user experience (UX).

So what is UX exactly? It’s less about what an app does and more about how it feels. You don’t just use apps, you engage with them. The instant a user opens an app for the first time, they form a connection with it. Their initial impression draws upon physical and emotional cues, and is largely influenced by UX.

When it comes to supporting the back end of omnichannel retailing, the Bon-Ton Stores Inc. digs deeper than supply chain.

Bon-Ton has selected the end-user experience monitoring (EUM) solution from Catchpoint Systems, a digital performance analytics company, to help optimize the company’s digital customer experience. Specifically, the retailer will use Catchpoint’s Synthetic (Active) Monitoring solution to ensure that its e-commerce website and mobile site deliver consistently high performance, and to find and fix issues before they impact consumers.

Purdys Chocolatier, a 74-unit Canadian chain based in Vancouver, British Columbia, has launched a new digital shopping experience.
 
The company is leveraging the Aptos Digital Commerce platform with integrated Aptos Enterprise Order Management. Purdys operates stores in several Canadian provinces and also operates an e-commerce business throughout North America. The retailer’s new fully responsive website replaces two legacy e-commerce systems, enabling it to support singular commerce and seamless experiences.
 

Today’s retailers face significant challenges as online increases its share of wallet, mall-based stores stumble, technology requirements mount, and customer engagement remains elusive for many. The business environment is clearly marked by the need to rationalize store counts, headcount, and product count.
 
As management faces up to these challenges, they seek purposeful justification of expenditures, higher shareholder returns, and greater customer engagement.
 

Today’s retailers face significant challenges as online increases its share of wallet, mall-based stores stumble, technology requirements mount, and customer engagement remains elusive for many. The business environment is clearly marked by the need to rationalize store counts, headcount, and product count.
 
As management faces up to these challenges, they seek purposeful justification of expenditures, higher shareholder returns, and greater customer engagement.
 

The do-it-yourself vertical is all about getting things done correctly, and Ace Hardware International is building the proper foundation for seamless commerce.
 
Ace will implement Blue Ridge supply chain planning technology to unify and optimize supply chain planning functions across its global distribution centers and retail locations.
 

Retailers are fighting to engage customers and keep them from going elsewhere. And smart retail marketers know that nurturing existing customers to increase lifetime value is the fastest, highest-ROI route to near-term revenue growth.

Drones are getting a lot of attention as a means of delivering products to customers. However, Walmart is reportedly testing the applicability of drones a little further back in the supply chain.