online shopping

Our theme at CTIA this year was "Energizing Retail End to End," and this means connecting virtual (online and mobile) and physical (in-store) retail channels, and managing these channels from the back-of-house operations (RQ4) to the front-of-house customer experience (XQ).

The central hub for all of these retail experiences is the physical store itself.

93% of In-Store App Users Make Purchases at Physical Stores

We've been flogging the "future of retail is omnichannel" message for some time now, but for good reason. It's true.

In case you weren't yet convinced, eMarketer makes a pretty compelling case, in a new infographic published in Adweek.

Embattled electronics retailer Best Buy was in the news last Thursday (March 29), announcing it was closing 50 big-box locations and laying off 400 employees in order to cut costs by $800 million.

In an attempt to stimulate in-store sales, the company is also testing remodeled store formats in San Antonio and Minneapolis, calling them "Connected Stores."

Because shopping information is omnipresent -- we can look up product and pricing info on our phones at any time, from any place -- today's retailer must offer a consistent buying experience across channels too. This is an omnichannel experience.

New research from PriceGrabber has found that most U.S. online consumers plan to shop this year combining online, brick-and-mortar and mobile retail channels.

In spite of the increasing number of retailers offering branded mobile apps, more shoppers are consulting retailers' websites when researching purchases than are using the same retailers' mobile apps, according to a new study released by Nielsen today.