Articles By Anna Rose Welch

  1. Mobile Traffic Boosts Online Retail Sales More Than 10 Percent 1/6/2014

    An IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark report reaffirms the rising importance of m-commerce. According to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark data, online retail sales increased 10.3 percent year over year. This boost is attributed in part to a rise in the amount of mobile traffic, as customers turn to their handheld screens to browse retailers on the web or through social media channels. In fact, mobile traffic for the quarter rose by 40 percent compared to the same quarter in 2012 and accounted for nearly 35 percent of all online traffic. More often, browsers are becoming buyers, with mobile sales for the quarter reaching 16.6 percent, an increase of 46 percent from the previous year. This latest round of results should only reaffirm for retailers that mobile is steadily becoming an integral cog in a retailer’s e-commerce strategy.

  2. Retailers Face Customer Frustrations Over Late, Undelivered Packages 1/6/2014

    A last minute holiday e-commerce surge overwhelmed shipping services and led to shipping delays. Between the shortened holiday season, a proliferation of retailers offering promotions, procrastinating customers, and projections for slower holiday sales, retailers have spent the last couple weeks biting their nails down to the quick. And, this year a new problem arose: there were too many online sales. Considering e-commerce and omni-channel initiatives are the key to a competitive future in the retail industry, too much online traffic doesn’t sound like a bad thing. However, both retailers and shipping companies were unprepared for the surge in last-minute online orders this year, which resulted in a large number of late deliveries and irate customers turning to retailers to launch complaints.

  3. 2014: The Year Nordstrom's Visions Of Canada Become Reality 1/3/2014

    Nordstrom is hard at work preparing to bring its brand to Calgary in September. A little more than two years ago, the retailer set its sights on Canada and announced its intentions to expand for the first time outside U.S. borders. Over the past year, the company has been pondering locations, and in 2014, Nordstrom will enter the Canadian market in the fall with its first international store in Calgary. The company also plans to open locations in Ottowa and Vancouver in 2015, followed by two locations in Toronto in the fall of 2016.

  4. Macy's, Martha Stewart Living Settle JCP Contract Dispute 1/3/2014

    While the lawsuit still continues between Macy’s and JCP, Macy’s and Martha Stewart Living  plan to continue their partnership. The New Year has brought tidings of good cheer between Macy’s and Martha Stewart Living as their legal battle over JC Penney’s right to sell certain Martha Stewart products has come to an end. Details about the breach-of-contract case settlement were confidential, however, Macy’s and Martha Stewart said that the settlement was not material to either company and that they would be continuing their partnership.

  5. As Holidays Wrap Up, Retailers Face More Discounts, Gift Returns 1/2/2014

    Companies hope post-Christmas returns and discounts will slim down excessive inventories. Despite the fact Christmas has come and gone, the holidays haven’t yet ended for retailers. Following Christmas Day, stores were preparing for the streams of people coming back to return unwanted gift items for, hopefully, more items. This year, stores were opening their doors early and offering even larger discounts to cater to what ShopperTrak predicts will be this year’s fifth-largest, after-holiday crowd to hit stores.

  6. Overstock.com Plans For Bitcoin Payments In 2014 1/2/2014

    Bitcoin’s future as a “mainstream” payment system is uncertain, but Overstock.com CEO Byrne hopes to see it grow with his company's help. The digital currency Bitcoin could gain some serious ground within the next six months, as last week online discount retailer Overstock.com announced plans to adopt Bitcoin as a payment method by June. Should all go as planned, Overstock would be the most prominent retailer to offer Bitcoin to consumers as a payment option. Many investors and tech entrepreneurs argue this technology could serve as a cheaper payment system and could shake up the payment market currently dominated by Visa and MasterCard. However, while some work has been done to try to establish various Bitcoin services, this form of payment has not yet been widely accepted in the retail industry.

  7. Holiday E-Commerce Falls Short Of Expectations 1/2/2014

    The shorter holiday shopping season and increased promotions took a toll on desktop spending. This online holiday shopping season failed to live up to expectations. Results from comScore show that online desktop spending for the first 52 days (Nov. 2 to Dec. 23) of the holiday season increased ten percent from last year, reaching $42.8 billion. Despite this increase, however, there was not quite the overall increase that analysts were expecting for the holiday season. comScore chairman, Gian Fulgoni says, while analysts expected that the shortened holiday season would lead consumers to spend more in the later weeks, this was “not in the cards.”

  8. HSN Increases Brand Awareness Through Social Media Initiatives 12/30/2013

    HSN has seen some great success with its Pinterest initiatives this holiday season following the October launch of its “More the Merrier” board. In the past, the company — responsible for several different brands including Ballard Design, Frontgate, TravelSmith, and Garnet Hill — worked on building up separate groups of followers for each brand. However, this Christmas season the company decided to change its approach and set out to tie together its eight brands on Pinterest. The “More the Merrier” board highlighted curated collections of gift ideas from its various brands, which alerted brand followers to HSN’s other, perhaps unfamiliar brands. And it was a huge hit. The Pinterest board began logging in some of the highest numbers of followers HSN had ever seen. As of December 24th, in fact, the brand has more than 7,900 followers and is the brand’s third-most popular board ever.

  9. Rite Aid Initiatives Serve Company Well In 2014 Third Quarter 12/27/2013

    After improving its online presence earlier in 2013, Rite Aid signed on with MCX to explore mobile commerce in the future. Last week, the company reported a solid 2014 third quarter with revenue of $6.4 billion, an increase of 1.9 from the previous year. The company’s same store sales for the quarter increased 2.3 percent. Like competitor Walgreen, which reported success in its recent quarter because of an increase in the number of flu immunizations and prescriptions, Rite Aid’s CEO John Standley also attributes some of the company’s third quarter success to its pharmacy’s performance.

  10. Groupon, Sephora Named Leaders In The Mobile Charge 12/27/2013

    Internet Retailer recently released its list of the 2013 top 10 best movile commerce e-tailers, and that list might come as a surprise, especially considering goliath Amazon isn’t on it. So, who is? Perhaps some unexpected names: One Kings Lane (furniture and home décor), Jacketthreads (menswear), Coastal Contacts (contacts and eyeglasses), Skinny Ties (neck ties), and Sephora (beauty supplies), among others.