The red carpet will be rolling out in Cincinnati on April 14. That’s when Multichannel Merchant will announce the winners of its annual Excellence in Customer Experience Awards its 2016 Operations Summit.
The awards, based on data from eBay Enterprise + Innotrac’s SmartHub benchmarking study, were established to recognize retailers at the cutting edge of delivery, packaging, returns, brand communications, customer experience, and innovation. You can find the list of 2016 Excellence in Customer Experience Awards finalists here.
What does it take to be an Excellence in Customer Experience Awards winner? Well, here’s a look at how Birchbox creates an excellent packaging experience; here’s what it takes to create excellent email communications; and here’s how to create an award-winning shipping and delivery experience.
Intro by Multichannel Merchant Managing Editor Tim Parry.
Here’s a look at this weeks’ news, commentary and events that shaped the direct-to-customer world… and more.
Marketing
Are you embracing reciprocity marketing? Here are five reasons how you can…
Find out the best prospecting method for retailers with our newest MCM Outlook 2016 catalog report…
How are you using social media presence and engagement as a powerful tool for your business? In this blog post by Social Times, here are four ways that will set your business apart from the competition…
By 2017, Instagram will produce nearly $3 billion in mobile ad revenue, so here are a few tips and trends marketers should consider when it comes to influencer strategy to their plans…
Are you providing relevance for your customers? In this blog post by Medium.com, here are six ways to make your retail brand more relevant.
Ecommerce
Payments platform BlueSnap has released new functionality to give merchants more control to solve checkout abandonment.
After integrating with the Mozu platform, outdoor gear and apparel seller GORUCK has seen a 65% increase in mobile conversions, a 48% increase in online revenue, and tripled website efficiency with 300 percent faster page load times.
SaltWorks launched a new Magento-powered ecommerce website to better serve wholesale customers purchasing large volume quantities of all-natural sea salt and mineral salt.
Baby Be Hip has introduced the first truly personalized baby gift subscription service…
What’s the difference between Tmall and JD.com? George Gallate of Merkle explains in this video.
Operations
FedEx has rebranded Bongo International as FedEx CrossBorder.
American Apparel is teaming up with Postmates to offer its customers same-day delivery.
A new report from commercial real estate firm CBRE says the rising wave of minimum-wage increases at the city and state levels will have a large effect on ecommerce distribution center operations, which employ many entry-level workers.
Amazon plans to open an 800,000-plus square-foot fulfillment center in Edgerton, KS.
San Francisco-based ThredUp.com, which sells consignment apparel, is expanding nationwide, including upping its distribution operation in Vernon Hills, IL, outside Chicago.
Uniform company Cintas has opened up a new distribution center in Reno, NV.
FedEx plans to build a new 235,000-square-foot distribution center in Chattanooga, TN, which will open in August, 2017.
… And more
California-based sneaker retailer Shiekh Shoes acquired Karmaloop. Shiekh Shoes operates 136 stores in the U.S.
A federal judge criticized the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for attempting to elicit false information from an Amazon executive during a trial in which the agency seeks to block Staples takeover of Office Depot.
Amazon has sued former operations executive Arthur Valdez, recently hired by Target to lead its supply chain transformation, for allegedly violating the company’s noncompete clause.
Tiger Group COO Michael McGrail warns that teen and tween retailers are increasingly at risk of filing for bankruptcy protection.
Milward Brown says that consumer confidence in China remains high.
Rue La La has launched curated boutiques as part of an exclusive deal with hit ABC hit show “Dancing with the Stars…”
Karmaloop has a new owner, Sheikh Shoes.