Omnichannel

An altered retail landscape and new consumer are remaking the shopper journey and path-to-purchase. Here are 10 tactics to improve the shopper experience that every retailer needs to know:

1. Bridge the online to offline experience: Expectations are high; online shoppers seek a personalized and efficient experience. Customers now expect price consistency across channels, the ability to buy online and pick up or return in store and a range of payment options.

Seattle – Amazon.com is reportedly planning to offer customers a new option for directly picking up orders.

According to GeekWire, Amazon is currently testing the service, called Amazon Flex, in its Kirkland, Washington, distribution facility.

A sign inside the facility instructs Amazon Flex users to take a ticket with a number, look for the number to be displayed, and then pick up their package. Amazon has not discussed exactly how Flex would work, or when or where it may roll out.

Burlington, Mass. -- Another iconic brand has opened its own freestanding store.

Ice hockey equipment giant Bauer Hockey, founded in 1927, has opened its first-ever physical store, in the Boston suburb of Burlington, Massachusetts. The 20,000-sq.-ft. store, called “Own the Moment Hockey Experience,” is the first of 10 locations the company plans to open in the United States and Canada. A second is set to open this fall, in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Supermarket anchors offer wide range of products and services

Grocery retailers have always served as ideal shopping center anchors, as they guarantee extra foot traffic by providing consumers with their daily needs.

Store pickup at Target, Best Buy and other major retailers is getting a boost from a whole new innovation from tech startup Curbside.

The company, which has partnered with these retailers to provide a curbside pickup app for its customers, has unveiled its first ever Curbside Pickup Pod at the Glendale Galleria mall in Southern California.

Charming Charlie has been on an upward trajectory for the past 10 years, and it shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. With 350 U.S. stores (plus four in Canada), the Houston-based, privately held jewelry and accessories retailer is busy expanding at home and, more recently, abroad. In June, it opened its first-ever location in New York City, a three-level, 16,000-sq.-ft.

Common industry wisdom holds that by the time the holidays actually come around, merchandising and marketing plans have been in place for several months or more.

Franklin, Tenn. – Out-of-stock merchandise is causing a significant drain on annual retailer revenue performance.

According to a new research report from retail analyst firm IHL Group, commissioned by OrderDynamics. Retailers and the Ghost Economy: The Haunting of Out-of-Stocks, retailers lose $634.1 billion in annual losses due to out-of-stocks.