What We’re Reading: Retail Agility, Beyond Sync, and Apple Pay
One of the traits we look for when hiring new employees at nChannel is curiosity. Obviously past experience and success are indicators of a good employee, but the only thing that is consistent about retail technology is that it is constantly changing. New ideas are born every day and we want people who are going to use those ideas to pull nChannel forward, not hold it back.
This trait is particularly important in my area, marketing. It’s our job to stay ahead of the retail technology market, and even shape it a little. Everyone at nChannel spends a lot of time learning about what makes retailers successful. We thought you might be interested in what we’re learning.
5 Causes of a Bad Online Buying Experience (And How to Fix Them)
Making your customer happy is your first priority as a seller. Customers have high expectations for their experience, especially when online shopping. If you don’t meet or exceed those expectations, they will likely decide to not buy from you. You only get one shot.
According to Internet Retailer, nearly half of global Internet users plan to make an online purchase in the next six months. You want to profit from this growing segment of tech-empowered customers who demand the products they want and how they want to purchase them. Many retailers are losing potential customers, because the retailer’s online experience just isn’t as personal as it is in the store.
You can avoid being one of those retailers. Here are five common problems that create a bad online buying experience and how you can fix them.
Reality Check: Is the cloud REALLY that risky?
The recent celebrity iPhone hacking epic has reopened the debate: are systems hosted in the cloud less secure? Sure, iCloud is not really the same thing as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that a business would use. Sure, it hasn’t really been confirmed that iCloud security was the even issue. It doesn’t matter. Right or wrong, the issue has reignited that icky feeling you get when you think about someone hacking the data that isn’t stored within the walls of your office.
But, rest assured. That icky feeling is not necessarily justified. Cloud solutions are not inherently a security risk simply because they are cloud-based. The numbers show quite the opposite, in fact. Even better? There are steps you can take to ensure you understand the implications of adopting specific cloud solutions, further mitigating your risk.
Amazon’s New Holiday Rules & Guidelines for “Toys & Games” Sellers
Is it already the holiday season? According to Amazon, it’s at least time for merchants to prepare.
Amazon set record sales for the 2013 holiday season. Last year, more than one million customers became Prime members during the third week of December. The annual membership program offers unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping on millions of items.
On Amazon’s peak shipping day in December 2013, more Prime items were shipped worldwide than ever before. Before December, more than 36.8 million items were ordered worldwide on Cyber Monday, which is an astonishing 426 items per second.
So, while you’re cheering on your favorite football team and sending kids back to school, Amazon has already started prepping their sellers for an even more successful holiday season this year.
Will retailers be ready for predictive shopping?
In a recent New York Times op-ed, Cass R. Sunstein (co-author of Nudge) shared some interesting insights about consumers’ tolerance for predictive shopping. His piece suggests that, though a majority of consumers would still be uncomfortable with predictive shopping, the majority was smaller than you might expect. It could signal that a predictive shopping trend could be on the not-so-distant horizon.
