HotWax Commerce Blog

The role of the merchandiser in the retail industry is rapidly changing as a result of evolving customer preferences and pandemic after-shocks. Recent surveys show that merchandisers are more focused than ever before on two key KPIs: profit margins and speed to market. 

Agile inventory has always been key to avoiding markdowns and waste, but this agility has been made particularly challenging by the pandemic, which has forced retailers to close stores and forced customers to think more carefully about how they spend their money. 

COVID-19 has put pressure on retailers to evolve into omnichannel businesses to succeed during this pandemic. Although the coronavirus has had a significant impact on industries such as the travel and hospitality markets, eCommerce brands have thrived. Retail sales are soaring, despite global trade wars, a U.S. Presidential election, and a raging pandemic. The National Retail Federation expects retail sales to increase between 3.5-4.1% to more than $3.9 trillion in 2020.

I recently read Steve Dennis’ “Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers In the Age of Digital Disruption” and feel that it is a must-read for retail executives across the globe. As the CEO of a technology start-up on the cusp of retail innovation that entered the industry to unify commerce and transform the customer experience, I’m always engaging in conversations about the future of retail. Steve Dennis’ book serves as an excellent guide for executives that know the status-quo won’t do but are hesitant to become truly customer-centric.

Everywhere you look, people are constantly checking their smartphones to communicate with others, browse the Internet, or purchase items at their leisure. As of 2019, almost 50% of all online shopping occurred via phones. You’d think with a mobile-first audience that retailers would keep up and capitalize on this trend, right? Unfortunately, some brands are struggling to deliver an optimized, mobile-first user experience to their consumers, and it’s impacting their sales numbers.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) form the foundation of companies’ future growth. For omnichannel retailers that are constantly implementing new processes, the need to monitor and measure the success of these omnichannel initiatives is a requirement, not an option. However, many retailers are struggling to define KPIs at the same pace they launch their omnichannel strategies.

It’s no secret that online sales are on the rise globally, with a recent study expecting them to account for over 22% of all retail sales by 2023. Predictions like this have caused retailers and fashion brands to increasingly invest in and prioritize online sales programs. One of the predominant ways brands do this is through so-called “social commerce:” the integration of commerce with social media.

Unified Commerce is taking hold of the retail industry on a global scale. According to the 451 Research Global Unified Commerce Forecast, digital commerce’s share of business-to-consumer sales will increase from 10.2% in 2018 to 17.3% in 2022. Retailers today must be ready to take advantage of all the channels and devices where customers are most active to gain a larger piece of this $5.8 trillion pie.

In a previous blog, we discussed the role that Unified Commerce has for enhancing the customers’ shopping journey from product discovery to purchase. Need a quick refresher? Unified Commerce enables retailers to support buyers’ habits across multiple channels such as mobile, web, social, and even physical stores. But this overview is just scratching the surface of what makes Unified Commerce important to a brand’s success. There are other factors at work that can take your company to new heights.

What your business really needs are channel-agnostic technologies that integrate easily with your tech stack and can be deployed to your customers. But what are these channel-agnostic technologies and how do they work in delivering a Unified Commerce experience? Ask and you shall receive. In this blog, we’ll discuss the Omnichannel Commerce Cloud and how it can help your business deliver on the promise of Unified Commerce.

Despite the increasingly digital landscape of the retail industry, brick-and-mortar stores continue to play a crucial role in a customer’s shopping journey. Customers often discover products online, then proceed to buy them in-store. Conversely, some discover products in-store and then buy online. Either way, these establishments and the team members who staff them are the key to a successful retail experience.

Nowadays, instead of “going” online, consumers live online, constantly scrolling and navigating the web for new products and experiences. It’s no surprise, then, that a majority of retailers depend heavily on online purchases for their overall revenue. However, online conversion rates are notoriously lower than in-store (1-2% compared to 20-40%), customer acquisition costs are much higher, and the average online return rate is a whopping 30%. So, what is a retailer to do, particularly about the high return rate that cuts into profits and resources? BORIS to the rescue. If you’re not familiar with the acronym, BORIS stands for Buy Online Return In-Store, and it’s a source of revenue that is often overlooked by retailers struggling to make the numbers work for their online shopping.

In this blog, we delve into the benefits of Buy Online Return In-Store for your organization, and the difference between traditional BORIS and its omnichannel counterpart.

Today, customers are constantly ordering products across multiple channels—their phones, laptops, tablets, and in-person.  Despite the challenges that come with managing orders across multiple platforms, retailers are expected to provide lightning-fast service and delivery. To navigate this new landscape, companies are turning to new order management solutions that coordinate the entire fulfillment process, from start to finish. But with all the options available, how do you select the Order Management System (OMS) that will best suit your company’s needs?