Omnichannel

As retailers consider how to best use physical spaces in a digital world, Nordstrom is going "local," debuting a small-format concept that has no dedicated inventory.

Retailers industrywide are pulling out all the stops to stay connected with their customers — but not all are succeeding.

Omnichannel customers expect that their favorite retailers deliver a seamless, consistent, convenient and fast experience regardless of whether they shop online, on their phones or in a store. While retailers are striving to create a unified omnichannel journey, they still struggle to keep up the pace.

Global beauty giant Sephora continues to disrupt the beauty category, rolling out new technologies — online as well as in store — and new formats. Its latest retail concept is positioned in the category’s fast-growing sweet spot: personalized customer services.

Marcus & Millichap’s Q2 Boston market report signals urgency to retailers like the famed lamps Paul Revere placed in the tower of the Old North Church. To wit:

To effectively service shoppers at store-level, managers need to evolve beyond their sales roles and become “problem solvers.”   This means store managers must learn to master the combination of order fulfillment, inventory visibility and staffing to keep up with customer demands, according to the “Voice of Store Manager Survey,” a study from JDA Software Group. The second annual study is based on responses from 252 US-based retail store managers compiled in August.  

Eleven brick-and-mortar stores — and counting. That’s where Amazon Books stands after the opening of its new outpost in New York.

Located on 34th Street across from the Empire State Building in Midtown Manhattan, the 5,200-sq.-ft. store is part bookstore, part high-tech electronics shop, with a cafe for shoppers to linger in.

Toys “R” Us is adding a new customer touch-point that it will use to get merchandise into shoppers hands faster.  

Brick-and-mortar retailers collectively have staked their claim online, accounting for at least half of U.S. e-commerce sales. The trouble is, most of them are losing money at it.