Ten thousand Facebook fans are not translating into 10,000 eager customers. And 50,000 Twitter followers don’t necessarily mean a ready supply of buyers. The hard truth is that most retailers haven’t a clue about the bottom-line impact of social marketing. Meanwhile, efforts to acquire fans and followers aren’t getting any cheaper.
Speaking with Multichannel Merchant during an off-site event held in conjunction with the National Retail Federation Big Show in New York, president and CEO Terry Lundgren made it clear Macy’s will roll ship-from-store out to all its 800+ department stores. Here’s why ship-from-store helps Macy’s compete with Amazon, and helps its bottom line.
A new IBM study of 26,000 global consumers found that shoppers are becoming increasingly open to buying both online and in-store depending on their needs at time of purchase. While more than 80% of shoppers chose the store to make their last non-grocery purchase, only half are committed to returning there next time they buy. According to this infographic from IBM, 35% of shoppers said they couldn’t say for sure where their next purchase would be coming from, online or in-store.
According to the IBM study, nearly half of online purchases resulted from “showrooming,” and nearly a quarter of these online shoppers intended to buy their item in the store, but ultimately purchased online.
When it comes to networking, social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are great, but in most cases, a handwritten follow-up note should also be part of your B2B marketing repertoire.
Your site visitors like to see what other shoppers are saying about your products, since they’re theoretically honest opinions coming from outside the business. User-generated videos are usually informative and often funny, which can compel viewers to stay tuned longer. To leverage this approach, you need to encourage customers to submit their own videos to your YouTube channel and your website, and you need to manage this content effectively.
As retailers reinvent their in-store shopping experience in the face of the continued rise of ecommerce, research released by Cisco found that digital content from the internet is the most powerful influence in buying decisions for the majority of shoppers in all channels. In this infographic by Cisco, you will learn how to catch and keep the digital shopper.
RTP-based Triangle Angel Partners (TAP) was the newest funding group to join existing investors, including Idea Fund Partners and Bruce Boehm, formerly of US Venture Partners, in Windsor Circle’s Series A funding round, which includes $685,000 of funds recently raised, plus the conversion of a Convertible Note of $405,000.
Offering a loyalty program for consumers who shop with you online or in a traditional store is not the only way to engage with your customers and gain additional sales. It can also happen when shoppers visit your site through apps. Take a look at how some companies gained a boost in conversions after taking part in a loyalty program with the CoffeeTable app.
During the last year, we
Building a multichannel ecosystem without upsetting existing channel relationships is a real challenge that requires balancing the concerns of referral and resale partners with the needs of end-customers. Aside from channel conflict, internal resistance can also make the transition difficult.