News

Even as digital commerce keeps growing, retailers are losing a sizable amount of potential online business.

According to the new Pymnts.com Checkout Conversion Index (CCI), retailers stand to lose as much as 36% of online sales due to frictions that remain from discovery through checkout, and could lose additional sales during payment processing.

The number of retail chief marketing officers (CMOs) using mobile in their holiday marketing keeps growing.

According to the new BDO Retail Compass Survey of CMOs, 65% of 100 retail CMOs surveyed will tap into mobile, up from 49% in 2014 and the third straight year of growth. And of those using mobile, 34% will focus most heavily on delivering mobile coupons. Respondents plan to focus 12% of their marketing efforts on mobile technology.

Olive Garden is adding a new omnichannel twist to its traditional Italian dining experience.

The casual dining chain has completed rollout of Ziosk tabletop tablets at more than 800 restaurants nationwide. Ziosk's seven-inch touchscreen tablets allow Olive Garden customers to browse the menu, order drinks, appetizers and desserts, and pay checks. The tablets also feature interactive activities such as trivia games.

Specialty cosmetics retailer Urban Decay is making its e-commerce site as accessible as possible to as many customers as possible.

Urban Decay has integrated e-Spirit's FirstSpirit content management system (CMS) with a Demandware e-commerce platform. The CMS allows Urban Decay to manage the proliferation of content, then localize that content for each individual site the retailer operates internationally, through a feature called "UD All Access.” Urban Decay worked with e-commerce services provider OSF Global Services to launch the new feature.

As we begin 2016, supermarket retailers continue to adapt to changing consumer demands, industry issues and regulations affecting their businesses. Some grocers are expanding their footprints, others are narrowing to specialty formats, and some seem to be doing both. All are facing increased competition and high expectations around freshness, convenience and transparency.

It’s official: Smart & Final Stores is acquiring 32 Haggen stores in Central and Southern California.

Smart & Final has been approved by the United States Bankruptcy Court to purchase 32 store leases – four of which are supplemental to the chain’s previously announced stalking-horse bid –from affiliates of Haggen Holdings for a total cash purchase price of approximately $68 million. Smart & Final plans to convert the 32 stores to its Extra! Store format.

Several retailers, including Neiman Marcus, had site issues this past Black Friday weekend. Here is some advice from the folks at Dynatrace, an application performance management software company, on the top three things retailers can do when things go bad online.

The Federal Trade Commission is poised to block Staples Inc.’s proposed take-over of rival Office Depot, according to the New York Post.

The newspaper reported that federal regulators are "leaning against the deal and are preparing to block it."

According to the report, the FTC is mostly concerned that a merger between the two office supply retailers will result in a single nationwide giant to serve big corporate and government clients.

The FTC has until Dec. 8 to decide whether to sue to halt the deal after extending its review.

Three leading retailers suffered varying degrees of difficulty with their e-commerce sites during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Black Friday may not be what it used to be in the United States, but the tradition has caught on big time across the pond, according to a report by the New York Times.

The BBC reported that shoppers in different parts of the country experienced gridlock, biting, pinching, punching, kicking and merchandise flying through the air as shoppers leapt over barriers to get their hands on heavily discounted items, the report said.