Omnichannel

Austin, Texas -- Shoppers with registered devices and retailer mobile apps made more store visits during the 2013 holiday season than during the previous year’s holiday season. According to data from mobile analytics provider Digby, mobile consumers made 29.6% more store visits during the 2013 holidays than in 2012.

Macy’s rocked the retail world late Wednesday announcing record holiday sales while simultaneously cutting 2,500 jobs and detailing plans to close five stores.

Stamford, Conn. -- Design Within Reach, Inc., a multi-channel retailer of modern furniture, selected NetSuite as its core business management platform to support the company's growth. Design Within Reach plans to begin by leveraging NetSuite to power its core financials/ERP, inventory management, point-of-sale and order management processes.

Minneapolis -- Direct Source is enabling its retail customers to protect their mobility investments and help ensure worker productivity with help-desk and mobile device management (MDM) services through its relationship with Enterprise Mobile. The Enterprise Mobile offering supports all operating systems, including Apple iOS, Windows, Blackberry and Android, letting retailers outsource ongoing management for devices used by corporate employees and store associates.

The only sure thing about disruption is that it will continue evolving at an increasingly rapid pace and in new and surprising directions. But for a last word, perhaps the industry should consider the following prediction from Nikki Baird, managing partner of RSR Research, on where disruption may be headed for 2014.

The emergence of omnichannel commerce is dramatically changing the retail equation, both in how customers travel the path to purchase and how retailers anticipate and meet customer demand. Mike Webster, senior VP and general manager of Oracle Retail, offered Chain Store Age his perspective on how retailers must alter their approach to both systems and business processes to ensure they deliver a seamless experience across all customer touchpoints, one that both converts sales and builds long-term satisfaction and loyalty.   

Hampshire, U.K. - Annual retail payments on mobile handsets and tablets are expected to reach $707 billion by 2018, representing 30% of all e-retail by that time. According to a new Juniper Research report, “Mobile Payment for Digital & Physical Goods: Opportunities & Forecast 2014-2018,” this compares with mobile retail spend of $182 billion in 2012, when mobile accounted for around 15% of e-retail.

Reston, Va. -- A total of $46.5 billion was spent online from desktop devices for the full November-December 2013 holiday season, an increase of 10% versus a year ago, according to comScore. While the total represents a record for online holiday spending and a double-digit gain from last year, it nevertheless fell short of comScore's forecasted 14% growth of $48.1 billion in desktop spending.