MCM CommerceChat

For years, ecommerce operations has been perceived as a male-dominated world. However, it’s become evident today that women are making noticeable strides and taking on more leadership roles.

Women are fighting off stereotypes and an unconscious bias that exists in the industry.  It is important today for both men and women to be part of a more inclusive and diverse group of industry leaders.

In the latest MCM CommerceChat podcast, Angie Stocklin, Co-Founder of One Click talks about how the company made a conscious effort to ensure growth and opportunity to both genders in a safe working environment.  Stocklin also offers some tips on how other omnichannel retail brands can do the same.

Angie was honored during the Recognizing and Celebrating Women in Omnichannel session within the Women in Operations program at Ecommerce Operations Summit 2019, April 9 -11 in Columbus, Ohio.

Although the U.S. is one of the largest retail markets, it lags behind other major countries in some key omnichannel metrics. For instance, out of over 700 U.S. retailers surveyed, only 27% offer Buy Online Pickup In-Store (BOPIS), placing it last among seven major markets. What other areas need improvement? What challenges and opportunities are retailers facing as they look to step up their game? Charles Dimov, VP of Marketing, Omnichannel Retail OMS for OrderDynamics, discusses his company’s recent research into best practices and competencies both here and abroad in this latest MCM CommerceChat podcast.

“The customer is always right,” is a slogan that promises that retailers give the highest priority to the customer experience.  But is it a true statement? That may not necessarily be so.  It takes a look at whether or not companies are doing their due diligence to identify and separate out the customers with a problem from the problem customers.

Retailers will often talk about personalizing and customizing for its best and most loyal customers but it doesn’t address the subset of people that can actively take up time and resources of the customer experience staff. As social media and brand complaint websites are more prevalent,  it has become increasingly more difficult to control the narrative.

In the latest MCM CommerceChat podcast, Stan Lucas, Principal of Lucas Advising, LLC., talks about how you approach the concept of “the customer is always right” can impact your business either positively or negatively.

In retail today, technology is playing a vital role to offer the best experience for customers. It has enabled retailers to personalize the relationship between the customer and the retailer. Having the right data about the customer gives retailers an opportunity to provide a different shopping experience based off of historical information, whether it’s through navigation or making an actual purchase.

For Boll & Branch, this has been the focus by thinking about who the customer is and what they are looking for.  Using the data at their finger tips the brand has been able to understand how to communicate with the customer throughout the journey.   The data the company has collected has let them take the pieces it needs to do better moving forward.

In our latest MCM CommerceChat podcast, Logan Crane, Vice President of Operations for Boll & Branch talks about how the brand has used technology to get a more centric view of the customer journey.  Hear more from Logan in her speaking session at Ecommerce Operations Summit 2019, April 9-11 in Columbus, Ohio.

 

Stores are often seen as the weak link when it comes to overall inventory accuracy relative to distribution and fulfillment centers. But retailers are relying on them more every day to fulfill orders either for store pickup, shipping to another store or directly to a customer. So how do you ensure greater store inventory accuracy to make sure orders are fulfilled correctly and on time, avoiding stock-outs and dissatisfied customers?

In this MCM CommerceChat podcast, Steve DeNunzio, Director, Master of Business Logistics Engineering (MBLE) talks about the challenges of store inventory management and accuracy and discusses examples of successful approaches taken by retailers.

Try before you buy has become an increasingly popular practice by a growing number of apparel retailers, including Amazon, Stitch Fix, Asos and Trunk Club, among others. For this reason, consumers have grown increasingly comfortable placing multiple orders, keeping just the one they want and sending the rest back.

But this of course can play havoc with their ecommerce returns and reverse logistics operations. Justin Press, general manager of North America and vice president of customer success for Brightpearl, has given a lot of thought to this subject and shares his insights in this latest edition of the MCM CommerceChat podcast.

 

Data, data everywhere, but what do you do with it all? We’re seeing the rise of the data scientist in all kinds of organizations to help sort this out, and ecommerce and retail are no exceptions.

While algorithms are great and all, what data do you feed them? How can data science help in areas like order sourcing efficiency and network capacity utilization?

In the latest MCM CommerceChat podcast, Anthony Burnside, manager of direct-to-customer order management and omnichannel fulfillment for Abercrombie & Fitch, talks to Multichannel Merchant about the role of data analytics and data science inside his group and organization.

Customer feedback is vital in any business or industry.  Retailers in particular are utilizing it to not only put specific products under the microscope, but to also analyze how they’re providing the best experience across all their channels.

Using feedback allows retailers to catch issues before they become detrimental to the business and it shows customers you value their input.  Soliciting customer surveys, allows retailers to identify strengths and weaknesses, helping it evolve.

In our latest MCM CommerceChat podcast, Martha Brooke, Chief Customer Experience Analyst and Founder of Interaction Metrics, discusses how retailers are using customer surveys and alternatives to getting valuable feedback from customers. Hear more from Martha at in her speaking session at Ecommerce Operations Summit 2019, April 9-11 in Columbus, Ohio.

 

 

Voice assistants are changing the way customers are making purchases with just a few words. Companies like Amazon, Google and Microsoft are making major moves in the voice assistant world.  While this is still a relatively new way to shop consumers are embracing this technology as we move forward in the year ahead.

This new way of shopping has pushed retailers to tap the power of what’s come to be known as “conversational commerce.”  To date, voice assistants have mostly been used for general queries like music, movies and the weather, it will only be a matter of time before voice shopping becomes a way of life for consumers.

In our latest MCM CommerceChat podcast, Jonathan Laverentz, Product Marketing for Manufacturers in the US/EMEA for ChannelAdvisor talks about the impact of voice assistants and how it will change the way customers are shopping in the future.

Getting your marketing strategy ready for the holiday season is important especially if you want to remain competitive in pricing and offers.  As we’ve seen in recent years, customer expectations are getting higher and higher as they are given more opportunities to shop in various channels.

As the retail industry edges closer to the biggest shopping week of the year ( Black Friday, Cyber Monday) also known as “Cyber Week”  making some last minute tweaks to your marketing strategy will make all the difference throughout the busiest time of the year.  This isn’t a time to miss out on the opportunities you have at your finger tips that will definitely keep you top of mind with your customers. Shoppers are looking for the best deals and are ready and willing to shop.

In our latest MCM CommerceChat podcast, Phil Minix, Executive Vice President of Rod’s Western Palace.  He will discuss how his brand has prepared its marketing strategy for the holiday season, along with some last minute tips and tricks and what it’s doing to stay ahead for 2019. Phil will also be discussing this in further detail at Ecommerce Operations Summit, taking place April 9-11th in Columbus, OH.