HotWax Commerce Blog

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?

In the age of COVID-19, physical retail locations are experiencing a sharp decline in sales, while eCommerce is a booming business during this period of social distancing. Once the impact of the coronavirus eventually dissipates, retailers that filed bankruptcy will have to come out stronger than ever before if they’re to succeed in this competitive landscape. Many may come out of this situation realizing that the traditional, “boring” retail experience of the past is no longer viable to their growth and that they must embrace omnichannel strategies and experiential retail concepts to meet customers’ changing behaviors.

Omnichannel no longer represents a market opportunity for businesses; it’s a market necessity. But what makes one omnichannel strategy better than another? Have you ever heard of a distributed order management (DOM) platform before? If so, you likely understand its importance to your omnichannel success. If you’ve never heard the term before, we’re here to ensure you’ll be a DOM expert in no time, putting you on the fast-track to success for the rest of 2020 and beyond.

At this point, we’ve all shopped at Amazon at least once, right? And if you’ve shopped once, you’ve probably come back a second or third time, likely because you were pleasantly surprised by the fast and free delivery options. Unfortunately, customers cannot currently expect the same delivery convenience and speed from specialty brand retailers like JCrew, Express, Vans, and the like, despite the fact that there is technology available to accomplish this experience.

The eCommerce industry is known for constant innovations that change the face of how customers purchase items and how retailers sell their products. Recently, Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) have risen to the forefront of the retail marketplace. What’s a PWA you ask? PWAs are websites with all the benefits of mobile apps and so much more. They are mobile apps delivered through the web, enabling retailers to deliver a faster, more engaging version of their eCommerce websites to their customers.

If this benefit wasn’t enough, why else should you care about PWAs? As discussed in a previous blog, users are downloading fewer mobile apps than in previous years. In addition to this trend, responsive mobile sites are slow, leading to low conversion rates for retailers. PWA technology blends the best of mobile apps and websites by being accessible anywhere on the web without any installation friction compared to installing native apps.

In this blog, we will discuss all of the benefits and features of PWAs and why you should embrace this innovative eCommerce technology.

Magento is a big name in the retail technology business, widely known as one of the most popular, legacy open-source platforms. However, since all versions of Magento 1 will become end of life (EOL) beginning in July of this year, many retailers are considering either migrating to Magento 2 or a new platform altogether. In this blog, we help you determine whether Magento 2 is a good fit for your business and introduce you to alternative solutions.