Data & Analytics

Vancouver-based specialty online footwear retailer Shoes.com is sprinting toward new levels of fast delivery.

Shoes.com is offering home and office delivery in two hours or less on select items on its Canadian website.

The service costs $19.95 per order and launches Thursday, Sept. 17 in Vancouver and Toronto and surrounding municipalities, with plans to expand to Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal and Ottawa by the end of 2015.

Shoes.com will use a network of local fulfillment centers that have access to the retailer’s technology, operations and marketing.

When it comes to e-commerce, consumers aren’t afraid to do a little homework.

According to the 2015 Digital Consumer Preferences Survey from digital commerce solution provider BrandShop, 96% of consumers feel research is a crucial step in making an e-commerce purchase.

Almost six in 10 (58%) respondents start their product search on Google, and 22% go directly a brand’s website. Third-party retailers such as Amazon came in third with 14% usage.

The overwhelming majority of merchants are not ready for the shift to EMV. 

Only 27% of U.S. merchants will be EMV-ready by the October 1st liability shift, down from the 34% estimated in March, according to a survy by The Strawhecker Group (TSG).

By December 2015, 44% of U.S. merchants are expected to adopt EMV, however EMV-readiness will not reach a threshold of least 90% until 2017— more than 15 months after the shift.

As statistical revelations go, the fact most Americans use the Internet and mobile phones is not especially surprising, but still significant for omnichannel retailers.

According to the latest Global Media Intelligence Report from eMarketer, 80.8% of the U.S. population, or nearly 260 million people, will go online at least once a month in 2015.

Target Corp. has operated an innovation lab in San Francisco since 2013, but now the retailer is eyeing a more accelerated and outward-focused approach to innovation.

In collaboration with Boulder, Colorado-based startup accelerator Techstars, Target is creating a new retail accelerator program that will launch next year in Minneapolis.

Retail acquisitions are never easy, and generally involve significant systems and process overhauls.

The June 2014 purchase of Jos. A. Bank by The Men’s Wearhouse is no exception, as evidenced by its recent upgrade of Jos. A. Bank’s warehouse management.

Twenty-five Los Angeles-area Target stores will be the crucible of innovating its shopping experience, the company announced Wednesday on its blog, A Bullseye View.

Lower gas prices are not significantly altering consumer behavior, according to the latest Consumer Fuels Survey results released by the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS).

Although drivers report that the national median gas price fell 25 cents per gallon in the past month and 60 cents per gallon since July, only 22% of consumers say that they will drive more over the coming month and only 15% say that they will spend more on other non-fuels items in the coming month.