Tag: retail

IRCE 2014 Recap: Top Stories from last week’s Retail Event in the Windy City

Posted on | by Ketner Group

As many of you in the retail realm know, the 2014 Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition was held last week in Chicago. Ketner Group made the trip out to see what’s up in ecommerce, 3D imaging, mobile, web analytics, social shopping and personalization – and that’s only the beginning! With nearly 10,000 attendees showing up for the 10th anniversary of IRCE, you can only imagine the creativity and innovation walking the halls of the McCormick Center.

Among the top stories at IRCE were Amazon’s continued fulfillment center growth. A whole day of sessions was dedicated to exploring the e-commerce giant’s prowess and just how they’re making such big waves in e-retailing today. B2B ecommerce also took center stage at the conference, with sessions on key performance metrics all retailers should monitor, how B2B site design can boost sales, and how B2B markets can even sell directly to consumers. It was a great year to access retail’s best discussions on thought leadership and industry innovation!

Compare Metrics at IRCE 2014
Compare Metrics at IRCE 2014

Two of our clients, Compare Metrics and Shopatron, exhibited in the Expo Hall and created quite the buzz! Compare Metrics hosted a dress display that demonstrated the obvious disconnect between how shoppers interact with online retailers, and the limited merchandising attributes offered up by those retailers. Shoppers are using their own natural language to search for items online, and Compare Metrics is here to help retailers hone in on the “humanized” approach to a personalized and engaged online shopping experience. We also loved their little robots giveaways at the booth!

Shopatron at IRCE 2014
Shopatron at IRCE 2014

Shopatron, our cloud-based distributed order management client based in California, made a splash with the announcement of their freemium Inventory Lookup feature. Booth stoppers-by were able to meet with our California friends and learn about the actionable analytics retailers can benefit from, enabling improvements in in-store operations, stocking and merchandising by instantly connecting customers to local, available inventory – pretty cool stuff!

It was a great week in Chicago, and the people of the Windy City were so welcoming and kind! We met quite a few characters, and our Cowboy Cabbie stands out the most – what Texas folk wouldn’t have a soft spot for a Cowboy in a Cab! Check him out, he’s famous!

Catherine and Sara with the Cowboy Cabbie!
Catherine and Sara with the Cowboy Cabbie!

Thanks for a wonderful visit, Chicago! We’ll be seeing you again in 2015.

What’s Happening in Retail: May’s Biggest Stories

Posted on | by Catherine Seeds

At Ketner Group, we are not ashamed to admit that we get a bit geeky when it comes to new retail stories and technology implementations. It seems like every week there are retailers that have made the move to make mobile or omni-channel technologies part of their business operations, feature stories on retail movers and shakers or ground-breaking research on what consumers want and expect from their favorite retailers and brands.

Here is a quick look at recent and notable retail stories from the past month:

RIS News – “The Five Most Powerful Women in Retail“
Recently reported in RIS News, women increasingly hold the top positions across the retail industry and are influencing society like never before. Forbes’ annual look at the most powerful women in the world is chock full of politicians, philanthropists, media personalities, technologists, and five retailers. The five retailers named to the coveted list were:

  • #64 Rosalind Brewer, CEO, Sam’s Club, Walmart Stores
  • #75 Miuciia Prada, owner, fashion designer, Prada
  • #76 Carol Meyrowitz, CEO, TJX
  • #79 Tory Burch, CEO, Tory Burch
  • #93 Sara Blakely, founder, Spanx

Retail Touchopoints – “EBay Urges Users To Change Passwords Following Database Hack”
Retail Touchpoints recently reported that E-Commerce giant eBay has confirmed that one of its databases was compromised by a cyberattack between late February and early March 2014. As a result, the company is asking users to change their account passwords as a precaution. he company said there is no evidence of unauthorized access to financial or credit card information, which is stored separately in encrypted formats, according to an announcement on the company blog. There has been no indication of increased fraudulent activity on the eBay site.

Internet Retailer – “China Officially Passes the U.S. in E-Commerce”
According to Internet Retailer and reports from China’s Ministry of Commerce, online retail sales in China totaled $296.57 billion in 2013, 13% more than U.S. e-retail sales of $262.51 billion. Official estimates of 2013 online retail sales, Chinese consumers now buy more online than do their U.S. counterparts.

Online retail sales in China in 2013 totaled 1.85 trillion yuan ($296.57 billion) in 2013, representing 41.2% growth from 2012—triple the growth rate of overall retail sales in China, according to the Ministry of Commerce. China’s online shopping total is 13.0% more than 2013 U.S. e-retail sales of $262.51 billion, which grew 16.9% in 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Retail Customer Experience – “Target Forms New Digital Advisory Council”
Recently reported in Retail Customer Experience, Target Corp. announced it has formed a Digital Advisory Council. According to the company, the panel of technology industry leaders will help guide Target’s omnichannel strategies and push Target to innovate faster, and discover new ways to leverage technology to enhance the guest experience, both online and in stores. The council includes experts with varied tech backgrounds, and is comprised of:

  • Ajay Agarwal, managing director of Bain Capital Ventures;
  • Amy Chang, CEO/co-founder of Accompani; formerly led Google Analytics;
  • Roger Liew, CTO of Orbitz Worldwide; and
  • Sam Yagan, CEO of the Match Group and CEO/founder of OkCupid.

Mobile Marketing Magazine – Forrester Predicts $114bn of US Mobile Purchases During 2014
According to a recent Forrester report and reported in Mobile Marketing magazine, Purchases made on smartphones and tablets in the US will hit $114bn (£68bn) in 2014, according to a report from Forrester. Despite the lower number of regular tablet users than smartphone owners in the US – currently around 100m and 200m respectively – Forrester expects two-thirds of this revenue, $76bn, to come from tablets due to their larger screens and form factors better suited for shopping. It’s worth noting that mobile users making purchases on their devices are still in the minority – 38 per cent of smartphone owners and 31 per cent of tablet owners in 2014. However, those figures are expected to rise to 55 per cent and 61 per cent, respectively, pushing total mCommerce revenues in the US to $293bn.

Stay tuned next week for updates on the top news stories from the upcoming IRCE show. The Ketner Group team will be in Chicago for the annual event! If you are there, give us a shout @ [email protected].

 

Retail’s Big Show Will Showcase Hot Technologies For 2014

Posted on | by Ketner Group
President and CEO of National Retail Federation, Matt Shay, speaks at the 2013 Big Show
Matt Shay, President and CEO of National Retail Federation, speaks at the 2013 Big Show

It’s NRF time again and the Ketner Group Team is getting ready to head out to New York next week to attend the Big Show! Leading up to what should be a convention full of new and trending retail technologies, renowned retail industry analyst, Forbes contributor and Ketner Group friend, Paula Rosenblum, shares in her most recent article, “Retail’s Big Show Will Showcase Hot Technologies For 2014,” what she predicts to be the best selling retail technology solutions of the year on display at retail’s “Big Show” next week. This year, Rosenblum expects the biggest tech trends to focus on keeping consumer satisfaction and attention with competitive prices and seamless online and in-store experiences. Retail is a crazy roller coaster ride of an industry, and the Ketner Group team looks forward to an exciting 2014!

Here’s a short summary of what Rosenblum lists as her “Top Five” of 2014.

1. Technology to improve the customer experience in stores. It’s not a secret that more shoppers are moving online to make their purchases. Retailers are finding ways in-store technology can differentiate and improve in-store experiences so customers  keep coming back.

2. Cross-channel Order Fulfillment. Because consumers want instant gratification these days, retailers are making sure that merchandise is always in stock, whether physically or virtually. Customers don’t want separation of in-store and online—they want brick-and-mortar stores to have e-commerce-style inventories.

3. Promotion and Price Optimization. According to Rosenblum, Black Friday has become the Superbowl of shopping and promotions. In order to attract the most customers, retailers are investing in technologies that help uncover the most effective promotional and end-of-season prices.

4. Big Data and Predictive Analytics. Big Data is everywhere. Adoption of analytics is becoming widely popular for retailers and they are looking to these technologies to determine what consumers really want so they can sell smarter.

5. Data Security. Thanks to the data breach Target suffered in December, Rosenblum says this shot up to her list. Retailers will be looking for ways to protect not only their customers, but themselves, as well.

For more information, check out her full article here on Forbes.

Retail’s Reinvention: Back to the Future?

Posted on | by Jeff Ketner

I’ve been reading and thinking about retail innovation a lot lately, which is no surprise. After all, many of our clients here at Ketner Group are retail tech companies, and retailers have been reinventing themselves at a furious pace in recent years as they seek new ways to compete with Amazon.

One of the things that intrigued me is a recent Reuters article about Walmart’s “radical plan” to have its customers deliver packages to online buyers. The plans are still in the early stages, but as the article explains, “shoppers could tell the retailer where they live and sign up to drop off packages for online customers who live on their route back home,” in exchange for a discount on their Walmart purchases. The retail giant’s ability to crowdsource its deliveries could make same-day delivery a reality, giving Walmart a potent edge over Amazon.

Will this plan ever see the light of day? At this point, it sounds far-fetched. But as one retail pundit pointed out, at least Walmart is thinking of creative ways to reinvent retail.

An article by retail futurist Doug Stephens draws an intriguing picture of what this future might look like. Stephens says “retail, as we’ve known it for at least the last two millenia, is coming to an end…it’s very clear to me that we are coming to a tipping point and data, processing power and connectedness lie at the center of it all.”

In the next decade, Stephens argues, retail will completely shift from a focus on ­physical and digital destinations and storefronts, to a focus on consumers as the ultimate destination. Instead of consumers deciding which stores and e-commerce sites to visit, retail will in essence start coming to us.

For example, according to Stephens, let’s say I’m on a business trip and my mobile device alerts me my anniversary is coming up in two days. A digital shopping assistant then springs into action—and it knows my wife’s shopping preferences so well that it presents a list of personalized gift suggestions in seconds, pulling information from a number of available storefronts. It finds the best available offer (my wife’s favorite fragrance on sale at Norstrom with a special bonus gift), then makes the purchase and arranges for the most convenient pickup or delivery option. The whole process takes under a minute.

It’s an intriguing vision from Stephens (aka The Retail Prophet). And the future that he describes is already taking shape. After all, the very best retailers compete for our business by analyzing our preferences, understanding our shopping habits, and delivering highly personalized recommendations and offers, sometimes anticipating our wants and needs before we even know we have them. (Check out the chapter, “How Target Knows What You Want Before You Do,” in Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit for a fascinating account of how Target analyzes consumer data.)

With all these innovations, though, it seems to me that retailers are simply trying to recapture an era where individual store owners recognized their customers by name, knew their shopping preferences by heart, and conducted business as a series of highly individualized, one-to-one transactions. In earlier days, retail was a highly personal business, and merchant’s storefronts were focal points not just of commerce, but community. Did shoppers need something delivered to their home the same day? No problem, the store owner could arrange it. Did you almost forget your wife’s birthday? Luckily, your local retailer had a timely gift suggestion when you called in a last-minute panic.

So as retail reinvents itself, it’s really just trying to get back to its roots, seeking new ways to make large-scale, mass-market retailing more personal and intimate. Technology may be the enabler, but in the end, what retailers are really doing is going back to the future.

KG Clients Make Big News at NRF: Retail’s Biggest Week in Review

Posted on | by Ketner Group

The biggest week in retail has come and gone, but let’s not leave NRF behind so quickly! KG had a great time at the trade show and we were thrilled to see our clients making some big news. Take a look at a few of the top clips from NRF this year!

CrossView
Forbes – No Jamba Juice Line For You: iPhone That Order In With PayPal

Digby
CNBC.com – How Mobile Technology Is Revolutionizing In-Store Shopping

Predictix
Supply Chain Shaman – The BIG Show: Clouds of Sensors and Sensing
RIS News – Best of NRF 2013: Top 10 Takeaways
Chain Store Age – Retailer Tech Deployments in the Spotlight at NRF

Profitect
Apparel – Going to NRF’s Big Show
RIS News – Best of NRF 2013: Top 10 Takeaways

Ketner Group had quite a year at NRF 2013 and now we can only hope to make the next round even more successful. Until NRF 2014!

Favorite memories of NRF – A Look Back at 12 Years of the Big Show

Posted on | by Ketner Group

This year, Ketner Group will have officially been going to the NRF Show for 13 years. A lot has changed since Jeff’s first trip to the Big Show in 2000 – an attack on our country, two wars, two presidents, a few recessions, numerous technology advances, just to name a few.  We have been very lucky over the past twelve years to support more than 12 different clients at NRF, and make so many great friends along the way.  Going to New York every January is something our team looks forward to every year, and this year, we are excited to launch a new KG website and our “Be Spectacled” marketing campaign. Be sure to seek us out at the show to get your own KG mustache and monocle!

To get you in the NRF mood, we’ve collaborated on our favorite memories from NRF over the years.  Enjoy!

Caitlin: The Incredible (Yellow) Snow Storm of 2011

Hands down, my favorite NRF memory has to be the snow storm of 2011! As a Texas girl I rarely get to see inches of snow falling so quickly all around me, and I have to admit that my fellow Texas colleagues and clients got really excited, too. We had a snowball fight in the middle of Times Square and we all laughed so hard. My colleague, Valerie, picked up a fresh patch of snow, threw it at me, and we both realized moments later that the snow beneath it was…yellow. Yes, it was that kind of snow.

Jeff: Making the KG Mark at NRF

The very first time I went to NRF was in 2000, representing Cornerstone Retail Solutions, which later became 360Commerce. I met a senior editor at the time with Executive Technology, and she was bowled over that I had actually taken the time to connect her with a retailer to interview at the show – the client got an exclusive story out of the interview, which ran in Executive Technology and Women’s Wear Daily. Later that day, she brought a colleague by and introduced me as “the one PR guy at the show who really gets it.” My other favorite memories from NRF include the very first Rock and Roll Retail event in 2010. It was pure garage-band rock and roll and a great bonding experience. And 2011 was a blast, with the snow, a full complement of clients, and having our whole Ketner Group team turn out for the show.

Brittany: A Walk We Will Never Forget

My favorite moment was from NRF 2011. Catherine, Caitlin, Valerie and I finished up a long day on the show floor and dragged our tired bodies on board a complimentary shuttle bus that would take us from the Javits Center back to our hotel. Keep in mind that these Texans were all woefully unprepared for the extreme winter weather NYC experienced that week–10-20 degree weather, inches upon inches of snow, howling wind, the winter works. Even the 10-step walk from the Javits door on to the bus was uncomfortable. We found seats and settled in, and a few moments later the bus departed. Well, it departed only to completely die every time it came to a complete stop, which in rush hour traffic in the city is basically every 20 feet. The driver would brake, the lights and heat would go off, and the bus would go “guh guh guh gu gu g g” and would slowly lurch to a stop. You can only imagine the sighs of exasperation from everyone onboard by about the seventh break down, sighs that were only topped by the final breakdown, at which point the driver gave up, exited the bus and headed down the street – all without saying a word to any of us. So, there was nothing left to do but get off and walk back to Times Square. This walk, remember, is in freezing weather on frozen sidewalks. We slipped, slid, shivered and giggled uncontrollably the whole way home. And we couldn’t catch a cab to save our lives! If memory serves, it was an awful half hour for these freezing Texas girls, but we have never laughed so much at NRF, ever!  A glass of cab in a warm hotel bar never felt so good.

Catherine: Bullets, and Babies and Broadway, Oh My!

NRF 2013 will be my 9thanniversary of attending NRF – wow!  Thinking back to my first NRF in 2003 – I was newly married and so excited about my first trip ever to NYC.  I remember being so excited to go out and explore the city as soon as I got there, but I was such a chicken (and was freezing to boot!) that I only made it a few blocks before I high-tailed it back to the Marriott Marquis. I really have so many favorite memories of NRF it’s hard to narrow it down to just one!  Instead, I’ve decided to take a little trip down memory lane and highlight just a few of my most memorable moments from the Big Show:

  • 2003: First NRF, first time riding in a cab all by myself, first time seeing a Broadway musical, and going club hopping with the crazy fun team from Wincor Nixdorf.
  • 2004: Sal LoSauro and John Hall treated Jeff Ketner and I to a wonderful steak dinner in Manhattan then took us to see Rockefeller Center. After, we took the elevators at 30 Rock up to the (now closed) Rainbow Room for a fun cocktail party.
  • 2005: I was pregnant with my daughter, Madeline, that year – so, when I wasn’t on the show floor, I stayed in my hotel room most of the time – watching TV and eating hamburgers and ice cream!
  • 2009: Pregnant with my son, Nolan. That year, my favorite memory has to be when Valerie and I discovered that a client’s press kit box had been hijacked somewhere between Austin and NYC. Not only were more than half of the press kits destroyed, but there were papers in the box that were not ours, not to mention we found a bullet casing!  Needless to say, there was a lot of freaking out in the hotel room that afternoon!
  • 2011: This has to be the BEST NRF of all time. The whole KG team was in NYC that year, and that was the year of the great snowstorm that slammed the eastern seaboard.  Because of the storm, we were snowed in for an extra day and got to explore the city – even got to explore Central Park! Snowball fights with our fun clients from Digby, braving a Russian Vodka room (which I think was a Russian Mafia hangout) with our fun client from Escalate, and we all went to a Karaoke bar and sang our hearts out until 2 a.m.  Oh, and we did a little work, too!
  • 2012: My favorite memory from last year’s show was getting to sit in the fourth row to see Mary Poppins on Broadway!  Our last night in NYC, Jeff Ketner treated Caitlin and me to a Broadway musical, and we had a blast!

It’s the Most Wonderful (and Stressful) Time of the Year!

Posted on | by Catherine Seeds

Hands down, Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year.  And it is just around the corner – the holiday lights, the Christmas carols, the yummy smells of apple cider, Christmas pine, and peppermint! My 6-year old daughter is already giddy with excitement wondering what Santa will leave for her under the tree (she’s hoping for a surfboard and an Apple iTouch) and I’m teaching my 2-year old how to sing Jingle Bells. This weekend, I will be decorating my house from top to bottom in green, red, and gold, and my husband will be up on the rooftop hanging up the Christmas lights.  I’m so excited!

And then, there is the Christmas shopping. Cue the dramatic sound effect – Dun, dun, dun!!!

Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas shopping and I really don’t mind the crowds like my husband does. But sometimes it can be a very overwhelming process because I am, for the most part, the lone shopper for my little family of four. (And before you judge me, I realize my little “problem” qualifies for #firstworldproblems.) This year is proving to be even more stressful – and here’s why:

  • This year we will be celebrating Christmas in Dallas, so my husband and I will need to plan carefully which presents to bring in the car with us and which ones (i.e. Santa’s gifts) to have shipped to Dallas.
  • My 6-year old daughter has already given me her Christmas list of about 30+ items on it, plus all of the items that she has circled in the Toys R Us, Target, and Walmart circulars. I’ve been able to whittle it down to about 10.
  • One more thing about my daughter – she’s discovered the American Girl Dolls.  Lord help me.
  • My budget: My husband is a big-time penny pincher and really “encourages” me to stay within our allotted budget.  The problem is that I’m really bad about sticking to a budget.
  • And finally, as a working mommy of two, my time is limited. Looking at the calendar, I see that I have less than four weekends to complete my holiday shopping. Can I have a glass of spiked apple cider now? Continue reading →

What Will Retailers Do with 2.7 Million Tablets?

Posted on | by Jeff Ketner

If anyone needed more proof that mobile is the hottest trend in retail, RIS News reported this week that the percentage of consumers who made purchases with mobile phones doubled from 2010 to 2011, from 9% to 18%. STORES devoted almost its entire November issue to mobility, too. These are just a couple of additional proof points for the meteoric rise of consumer mobility, which Retail Systems Research describes as the “most galvanizing force (in a positive way) we’ve ever seen in retail.”

Mobile technology is changing the retail landscape in ways that haven’t been seen since the rise of e-commerce. However, the trend that’s captured my attention lately is what’s happening with mobile devices inside the store – and more specifically, how retailers are using smartphones and tablets inside the stores.

A recent research study from retail analyst firm IHL Group included a fascinating statistic. According to IHL’s survey, more than 2.7 million tablet devices will be shipped for use in North American retail and hospitality by 2015, an increase of 450% over current rates. These figures don’t even take into account the handheld devices that retailers are scrambling to roll out in mobile POS deployments.

The bottom line? Get ready to see millions of tablets and smartphones in retail stores in the next few years, along with fundamental changes in everything from the physical layout of stores to the way that consumers interact with store associates.

61% of retailers surveyed by IHL Group rate mobile technology as their top priority, so what we’ve seen so far in store-based mobile systems is just the beginning.

Early mobile deployments at retailers such as Urban Outfitters, Home Depot, Nordstrom and others have focused primarily on the ways that mobile can improve the store experience. These retailers are looking to mobile devices to get their sales associates out from behind the cash wrap and onto the sales floor, where they can interact with customers, guide the shopping experience, look up product reviews and ratings, and check inventory on out-of-stocks in order to save the sale.  Early deployments are promising, but the changes we’ve seen so far are just the tip of the iceberg. Continue reading →

How Retail Tech Vendors Can Make the Most Out of Analyst Relations

Posted on | by Jeff Ketner

We wear numerous hats when working with our retail technology clients on their PR and marketing programs. (However, as discussed in our recent post, we have to be mindful that we’re not trying to do everything all at once.) One of the most important hats we wear is that of the Analyst Relations manager.

Just like any smart business strategy, there is no single best recipe for success when it comes to Analyst Relations, because every company is different, and every analyst is different and has unique preferences. However, there are a number of best practices that we stress to our clients when working with retail and technology analysts. In this edition of Shopology, we wanted to bring you some pointers straight from the experts themselves.

1. What is the number one thing you wish retail tech vendors understood better about working with analysts?

KEVIN STERNECKERT (Gartner): We don’t need a history of where the industry’s been. Too many software vendors feel like they need to educate us on the state of the industry and spend up to 25% of the time talking about stuff that’s known and we hear everyday from vendors.

Also, many of the strategic analysts are not as concerned with the individual features/functions of a technology, but what’s truly different about the company. Most companies, when asked what’s truly different about them, surprisingly do not have a solid answer.

PAULA ROSENBLUM (Retail Systems Research): What we care most about is “What problem are you trying to solve?” and then “How do you solve it?”  70-page Powerpoints are hard to deal with.  Don’t forget, we often have 4-5 briefings in a single day.

It’s also sort of offensive to have someone justify their position/existence to one analyst firm by quoting another analyst firm. I’ll bet I’m not the only one who’s bothered by this, and it is totally irrelevant to me where another analyst firm ranked your company in their report. Continue reading →

Location, Location, Location

Posted on | by Ketner Group

William T. Dillard (1914-2002), founder of the Dillard’s department stores, is the person most often credited with the quotation, “Location, location, location.” Supposedly, one of the things that helped make him so successful was that he took notice of consumer’s shifting preference to indoor shopping malls. Of course, all you have to do is look at The Domain here in Austin for evidence that this preference seems to be shifting yet again.

We got to thinking a lot about location recently, wondering if it is equally important across all industries. With retail stores, restaurants, etc.—of course. Location is absolutely key. (Again—Austinites, if someone gave you $5 million 5 years ago to open a retail store, would Highland Mall be anywhere on your list of possibilities? Well I sure hope not, because it’s about to become the next ACC campus.) But in the age of globalization, Rebecca Black, and Cheezburgers, does location for certain types of business really matter anymore? If it’s not obvious yet, I’m talking about PR firms (though the same question could apply for interactive agencies, web developers, journalists, etc.) Continue reading →