Omnichannel

Ikea continues to break the mold when it comes to furniture retailing.   In a move that supports its transition from a traditional brick-and-mortar retailer to a multichannel player, Ikea recently opened the doors of its third “click-and-collect” location in England, in the city of Birmingham.   

How do industry observers rate retail social customer care? #EpicFail.   The term social customer care refers to the quick and personalized customer service brands are expected to provide through social media once a customer engages with them to resolve an issue. To date, 92.5% of brands are failing to meet customers' social customer care expectations, according to the “Social Customer Care Report,” from Rational Interaction.  

Domino’s customers can now place their orders without ever talking to a human.   Starting Sept. 15, Domino’s customers with a “pizza profile” on the chain’s website can place orders via bot-based Facebook Messenger. The pizza chain's in-house team, which created zero-click ordering via Amazon Echo and Apple Watch, also developed Domino's new ordering bot.  

Amazon on Thursday announced that its Prime Now ultra-fast delivery service has added its first beauty store.    Prime members in Chicago can now order  beauty and personal care products from Merz Apothecary, a 100-years plus Chicago retail institution, and have the items delivered to their door in as little as one hour.  

The mobile wallet wars are heating up again.   Best Buy is the newest retailer to accept mobile payments, a move that it expects to streamline checkout and drive loyalty. A multiyear agreement with Chase enables the chain to accept Chase Pay in its stores, on BestBuy.com, and in the Best Buy app.  

Traditional retailers who think the digital tide can be turned back are deluding themselves, according to the consulting firm’s fourth annual “New Digital Divide” report. With Facebook and Google playing host to hours of commercial interactions with consumers on a daily basis, the classic retail brand’s ability to guide the path to purchase is waning.

Despite an increase in digitally-influenced retail spending, a gap still remains between retailers and digital shoppers.

Digital interactions influence 56 cents of every dollar spent in retail stores, totaling $2.1 trillion by the end of the year – up from 14 cents of every dollar in 2013, according to Deloitte's new study, “The New Digital Divide: The Future of Digital Influence in Retail.”

The holiday shopping frenzy has begun, and it is shaping up to be more digital than ever.

Summer has barely said goodbye, but consumers nationwide have already turned their attention to the holidays. In fact, nearly one third of consumers, and nearly half of parents, began holiday shopping before Labor Day.