Omnichannel

Accenture, a global professional services company, has entered into an agreement to acquire Kurt Salmon, a global strategy consulting firm focused on the retail industry.   The acquisition will expand Accenture Strategy’s capabilities in delivering strategy consulting services to retailers and private equity firms in a world disrupted by digital.
   

As the battle between Walmart Canada and Visa over interchange rates rages on, Walmart Stores is making more strategic moves with Chase.    Walmart will now process credit and debit payments on ChaseNet, the bank's closed-loop network, across its 5,000-plus Walmart and Sam’s Club locations in the U.S., and on the Sam’s Club e-commerce site. Chase already processes payments for Walmart’s e-commerce channel.  

Photo: Ken Worzel   Top executives at department store retailer Nordstrom have been given new responsibilities.   The retailer said it has appointed Ken Worzel as president, Nordstrom.com. in a move to further accelerate its e-commerce, digital and mobile efforts.  

E-commerce may lose some appeal among shoppers this holiday season.   While some industry analysts are predicting more than 15% increases in e-commerce growth during the 2016 shopping season, NetElixir’s “2016 Holiday Outlook” report predicts that e-commerce growth may only hit 11%. This conservative gain is being blamed on earlier-than-usual promotions and purchasing of holiday gifts; retailers’ use of online marketplaces rather than exclusively selling directly on their sites, and the uncertain political environment.

Macy's is revving up its beauty offerings with at-home beauty and treatment services.   The department store retailer is partnering with beGlammed, an on-demand beauty service that delivers hair and makeup to the customer’s front door. The deal will utilize beGlammed’s network of more than 1,200 stylists in 22 U.S. markets. Customers will be able to book a variety of beGlammed services, from a touch-up to bridal makeup, on macys.com/beglammed.com.  Prices will range from $25.00 to $185.00.  

Retailers should see a modest uptick in holiday sales this year. But the news isn’t all positive for big chains or even major online retailers.   

Omnichannel success depends on the ability to scale operations to keep up with consumer demand.  

Consumers have made it clear: they want to shop across a brand holistically, not a company’s individual channels.   Yet, a lack of unified customer experiences continues to haunt customer service, and fails to drive customer loyalty. These details were revealed in “In-Store Meets Online: Unifying the Retail Customer Experience,” a report from Kibo, a cloud-based unified omnichannel commerce platform provider.