Omnichannel

By Kevin Kiziah, asd-usa.com

Technology upgrades and new technology installations are a necessary part of business for chain stores, but updating or installing technology at multiple sites can be an overwhelming undertaking. Technology rollouts are especially intimidating for chain stores with hundreds, or even thousands, of locations spread across a wide geographic area.

NEW YORK — Former Macy’s executive Michelle Bogan is returning to management consulting firm Kurt Salmon, as a partner in its retail and consumer products group.

Bogan develops and implements transformational retail strategies, including omnichannel, consumer analytics and localization, and has provided numerous department stores and specialty retailers around the world with her insights and expertise. At Macy's, she led omnichannel strategy and process development for Macy's and Bloomingdale's.

Columbus, Ohio -- Value City Furniture and American Signature Furniture are launching a social media contest to promote their new e-commerce sites. Customers can win prizes for sharing favorite items from the retailers’ websites and sharing them on the Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram and/or Pinterest accounts. Customers can enter through any or all of these social networks through July 1. The retailers, owned by American Signature Inc., are giving away up to $10,000 in free furniture as part of the contest.

Westborough, Mass. -- Information technology solution-provider MICROS Systems said that it has forged a partnership with Steve Madden to launch  its e-commerce, order management, customer relationship management, and cloud point-of-service solutions.
 

Chicago -- Online shopping cart recovery provider SeeWhy announced that The Land of Nod – a Crate & Barrel multichannel banner that sells children’s furniture, bedding, and accessories – has deployed SeeWhy’s Conversion Manager Software as a Service (SaaS).  

The turnkey e-commerce solution automates remarketing, boosts conversion and maximizes ROI by triggering personal marketing campaigns in real time based on a shopper’s everyday website browsing behavior.

BURLINGTON, Mass. — Ikea and 89 Degrees, a marketing solutions provider, will give a presentation on the company’s loyalty program at this years’ Customer Relationship Management Conference Tuesday, June 18, at the Hilton, Chicago.

89 Degrees helped the company leverage Big Data to drive its omnichannel marketing, 

Tokyo -- A Sunday report by Bloomberg said that 7-Eleven parent Seven & I Holdings Co. is planning more acquisitions here and may more than double the number of c-store stores it operates in North America.

The company “could increase our store number to 20,000 or even 30,000 [in North America],” chairman Toshifumi Suzuki told Bloomberg in an interview.  7-Eleven currently has more than 8,000 convenience stores in North America.

No time-frame for the planned expansion has been defined.

WESTBOROUGH, Mass. — Footwear and accessories manufacturer Steve Madden is looking to Micros Systems, a provider of IT solutions for the retail and hospitality industries, to help it reinvigorate its e-commerce presence and improve its order management, customer relationship management and cloud point-of-service solutions.

Steve Madden will leverage Micros’ omnichannel product suite to increase traffic and conversion in both its online and mobile channels.