MCM CommerceChat

Deciding to sell cross-border can be an overwhelming process, there are a lot of moving parts for U.S. retailers to think about.   Should businesses dive into international markets or opt to avoid all together?  Where do businesses begin? What country is the best to enter? How do you make it so that your website adheres to the country you enter.

It goes further than that, where are your customers shopping globally?  What are their preferences when it comes to the type of device they are shopping on.  Going cross-border with your business could present a major opportunity for retailers if done correctly.

In our latest MCM CommerceChat podcast, Melissa O’Malley, Director of Global Initiatives and Communications for Paypal, will discuss all of this and more as she discusses where customers are shopping, their shopping preferences and the latest in preferred payment methods.

 

With the holiday season beginning earlier each year, it is important for brands, retailers and marketers to get ahead of the curve when it comes to their email marketing strategies.

Email should and can be the bread and butter of your marketing strategy during the holiday season and the year.  How retailers and brands use email to their advantage can make all the difference in the overall customer experience.

In our latest MCM CommerceChat podcast, Greg Zakowicz, Senior Commerce Marketing Analyst for Oracle Bronto, discusses some of the best email marketing practices, the challenges and latest trends during the holiday season and beyond.

Zakowicz will also talk further on this topic on Sept. 25 at 2 p.m. in a free live webinar, “10 Email Strategies to Prepare for the Holiday Season” with Multichannel Merchant.  To register, click here.

Selecting the right online marketplace for your ecommerce business is a tough choice. Partnering with the right marketplace holds the greatest potential for success. But which one do you choose?

Retailers thinking about expanding their reach with new customers should look to marketplaces, an increasingly popular way to broaden their audience. But how do you determine which marketplace – or marketplaces – make the most sense given your business objectives? And how do you align all of the moving parts to create a successful marketplace strategy?

In our latest MCM CommerceChat podcast, Dennis Worth, Vice President of Business Development for Seta Corp., discusses best practices in marketplace selection and how his business has benefited, and shares tips on how to make the marketplace adoption process go smoothly.

Worth will be speaking about this topic at greater length at Multichannel Merchant’s virtual event,  Marketplace Summit: Making Your Marketplace Strategy a Success on Aug. 28. Join us to gain insights on how you can make your marketplace strategy a winning one.

It’s been almost a month since the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in South Dakota vs. Wayfair, and ecommerce sellers, retailers and service providers are all still wondering what’s coming next. What are the practical implications of the case that tossed out a seller’s physical location as the sole determinant of tax nexus?

To help us better understand what’s happening in the wake of the ruling, Multichannel Mechant caught up with Matthew P. Schaefer, a partner with the law firm of Brann and Isaacson for our latest MCM CommerceChat podcast. Shaeffer and his firm represented all three plaintiffs in the case before the high court (Wayfair, Overstock.com, Newegg) as well as hundreds of other ecommerce merchants and related associations.

Shaeffer talks about what’s next in terms of tax enforcement and collection for South Dakota and other states, aspects of the federal commerce clause not addressed in Wayfair and why he believes the ruling will hurt small-to-medium-sized ecommerce sellers.

 

 

With unemployment low, keeping distribution centers and fulfillment centers staffed up is more of a challenge than ever, and ecommerce companies are scrambling to fill positions. And the big gear-up for peak season hiring will be here before you know it.

Aside from automation, what can you do to ensure a sufficient workforce in various demand scenarios as wage pressure increases?

In our latest MCM CommerceChat podcast, Katie Langrock, vice president of operations for Vermont Teddy Bear, talks about her company’s approach to recruitment, hiring and retention in a highly seasonal business that’s tucked away in northwest Vermont.

Katie shares about the competitive pressures she faces in her labor market, about providing incentives and perks, balancing peak season and permanent staffing, creating a fun work environment and a host of other issues affecting workforce and labor management for her company.

We explores this topic in greater depth at Multichannel Merchant’s E-Fulfillment Summit, an on-demand virtual event you can access in full. Joining Katie in the session was moderator Tim Holody, COO of Seta Corp./Palm Beach Jewelry, and Anthony Vicars, VP of operations at Framebridge.

Download the Summit sessions to gain insights from top brands like Pet Supplies Plus and zulily on DC workforce issues as well as order processing, automation and fulfillment network planning.

The shopping cart is a key component in the overall customer journey yet online retailers continue to lose millions in sales to cart abandonment.

This is why providing a seamless experience begins with knowing your customer, building a relationship and knowing what they expect from your business based on data analytics.

In the latest MCM CommerceChat podcast, Amitai Sasson, Vice President of Marketing and Development for overstockart.com, talks about how his company did a complete overhaul of its shopping cart page. By using a conversion optimization specialist and implementing an optimization program, overstockart.com made improvements to its checkout process to enhance conversion rates. As a result, overstockart.com saw more customers adding to cart, a decrease in bounce rates and users spending more time on the site.

Download our latest report, “How to Close the Deal in the Shopping Cart“ to learn more about overstockart.com’s experience.

Putting the customer at the center of everything a brand does is vital to success in retail and ecommerce. It means developing an understanding of their needs at every touchpoint along the shopping journey. It’s also about aligning your partners, vendors and internal teams to ensure every visitor gets a consistent look and feel while leaving room for personalized experiences.

In the latest MCM CommerceChat podcast, Bruce Pullens, Director of Customer Strategy and Insights for Lane Bryant, discusses why a customer-centric approach is critical and what it looks like within his company. He also talks about overcoming challenges that can hinder your efforts to deliver a seamless, end-to-end experience.

Today’s mid-market online seller is struggling. Shipping costs are on the rise, profit margins are shrinking and competition is growing quickly. In an Amazon Prime world, free two-day shipping is now the expectation, and no longer a way to differentiate and delight customers. Today, shipping programs can literally make or break profitability. How do you not only compete but win in the post-purchase experience?

In this latest MCM CommerceChat podcast, Manish Chowdhary, CEO of Pulse Commerce, discusses the company’s recent study which looked at the performance and behavior of leading mid-market merchants. It tracked live orders and analyzed more than 50,000 data points throughout the purchase path. We discussed what these results mean and what merchants can do to close the post-purchase performance gap and win customer loyalty amidst fierce competition and heightened expectations.

In an omnichannel world where fulfillment has become an increasingly complex proposition, order sourcing is a critical success factor for any merchant organization.

How often and in what circumstances do you pull from store vs. ecommerce inventory for online orders? What logic drives the decision process, and what data tools come into play? How about split shipments vs. ship complete orders?

To learn more about this important topic, we spoke with Alex Volakis, senior omnichannel strategy analyst, Abercrombie & Fitch in our latest MCM CommerceChat podcast. Alex provides key insights into the tools, processes and practices that help Abercrombie optimize its sourcing strategy.

Alex will be part of a panel discussion on this topic at Ecommerce Operations Summit, April 3-5, Columbus, entitled “Where Do I Ship From? Optimizing Order Sourcing Across Channels.” At the summit you’ll hear great speakers on topics covering all aspects of the dynamic world of direct-to-customer and ecommerce operations and fulfillment.

You’ll also have lots of opportunities to network with a great group of industry pros and see some of the latest solutions and technologies on display. Hope to see you there!

The editors of Multichannel Merchant have launched our new monthly podcast series, MCM CommerceChat!  Each month we’ll talk to thought leaders in ecommerce, omnichannel, and marketing about trends and happenings that continue to shape the dynamic world of direct-to-consumer selling.

In this episode we caught up with Angie Stocklin, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of One Click Ventures, to discuss the latest in cross-channel customer centricity. Angie oversees business operations including customer service, order fulfillment and merchandising. 

In this podcast, Angie talks about the challenges in delivering a consistent cross-channel customer experience at every touchpoint, how to set up effective communication across the organization and how to find a variety of ways to listen to the customer. 

Angie presented on on this topic at the seventh annual Ecommerce Operations Summit 2018, joining Steve Nicholas from Express, Bruce Pullens from Lane Bryant, Harlan Eplan from Radius8 and Chris Vodola from StellaService in the session, “It Should All Look the Same: Creating True Cross-Channel Customer Centricity.”

In addition to great keynote presentations, the event will featured tours of local fulfillment facilities in Columbus, fun networking events and a packed agenda covering all aspects of ecommerce and direct-to-customer operations. Our 2019 event is also being held April 3-5, 2019; you can learn more clicking here.