More than 80 percent of retailers plan to increase their customer experience spending in 2015, according to a new survey from SDL, a provider of global customer experience, and Econsultancy.
A majority of U.S. shoppers, 60 percent, said they would be comfortable giving out personal information, anonymously, to their favorite stores in exchange for benefits and rewards. Another 56 percent would give out the same information to a product brand and 46 percent to a product app, according to a recent survey from Wearables.com and The Center for Generational Kinetics.
The robots are coming. Lowe's is testing whether new "bots on wheels" can improve its customer service, like helping a shopper find a match for something as simple as a nail. Four robots are being tested an Orchard Supply Hardware store owned by Lowe's Companies Inc. in San Jose, Calif.
In September, Macy's announced plans to roll out the largest beacon initiative in the retail industry with its partner, shopkick, a shopping app that awards users points for entering participating stores. The company is joining a host of retailers that have already made strides toward beacon technology, including Lord & Taylor and Hudson Bay.
OEMs' insistence on more and more cost reductions has caused painful friction in the relationship, according to the annual Global OEM-Supplier Relations Study conducted by IHS Automotive. The survey allows automotive suppliers to rate car makers on a variety of matters, including technology sourcing, profit-impacting factors, quality management and intellectual property protection matters.
Businesses are continuing to shift resources from brick-and-mortar and other traditional sales channels to an e-commerce environment. What began primarily for business-to-consumer shopping is being emulated by merchants in the business-to-business sector, and has thus far been successful.
While numerous retailers have collected years of customer data, only 9 percent are leveraging the information in a structured, usable way, according to HRC Advisory (HRC), a strategic retail advisory firm and unit of Hilco Global.
If a retailer is out of stock of an item just twice, 40 percent of parents looking for back-to-school items say they will avoid shopping at that retailer again.
Retailers must plan now for the IoT because the technology positively impacts top- and bottom-line business performance by improving omnichannel operations and enabling personalized and contextualized interaction with consumers, says a report from IDC Retail Insights.
Shopper distrust following a series of retail data breaches is high - three in 10 shoppers say they don't trust retailers to protect personal and financial data against cyber criminals.
