Omnichannel

By Todd Maute, [email protected]

Global ecommerce and payments leader eBay said its third quarter revenues increased 14% to $3.9 billion and noted exceptional strength from mobile initiatives.

Profits declined to $689 million, or 53 cents a share, compared to $837 million, or 64 cents a share, but on an adjusted basis to exclude non-recurring expenses increased to $837 million, or 64 cents a share, compared to $718 million, or 55 cents a share.

Washington, D.C. - Consumers will take a conservative approach to spending this holiday season. According to NRF’s holiday consumer spending survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, the average holiday shopper will spend $737.95 on gifts, décor, greeting cards and more, 2% less than the $752.24 they actually spent last year.  Despite this reduction in individual holiday budgets, NRF is forecasting holiday sales will increase 3.9% to $602.1 billion.

Palo Alto, Calif. – HP Autonomy is releasing the HP Digital Marketing Hub, a new solution that enables marketers to deliver personalized experiences based on real-time analysis of diverse and massive volumes of information across multiple customer touchpoints. HP Digital Marketing Hub combines technologies from HP Autonomy, HP Vertica and HP Labs and leverages the HP Converged Cloud to provide advanced marketing analytics.

New York – Duane Reade is running a three week, omnichannel social media marketing campaign to raise awareness of Duane Reade brand hosiery products. The "Boo-tiful Legs" Halloween contest calls for entrants to upload their original photos wearing Duane Reade brand hosiery with their Halloween costume, via a Duane Reade Facebook page FanGate, through Nov. 3.

By Joe Gillespie, president and CEO of Zoove

The online shopping experience has many benefits: access to unlimited inventory, quick search capabilities, and overall convenience. But it lacks one key element: human interaction. Before making a purchase, consumers often want to try out products — to see and touch them, or get a second opinion. In fact, a recent IBM survey reveals that nearly nine out of ten consumers still finalize their purchases in-store.

Walmart will be opening more small stores next year and beyond as the company pursues a vision of omnichannel retailing that it contends no other company is capable of executing.

Walmart U.S. president and CEO Bill Simon on Tuesday morning shared a message of physical and digital convergence involving an acceleration of smaller format stores and continued advancement of the retailer’s digital capabilities. He suggested multiple times during his presentation that the company has reached an inflection point in terms of building a next generation retail enterprise.

Apple has announced that Angela Ahrendts, CEO of Burberry, will be joining the company as SVP of retail and online stores — a newly created position — and as a member of its executive team. Ahrendts will report to CEO Tim Cook.

Ahrendts will be charged with overseeing the strategic direction, expansion and operation of both Apple retail and online stores.