With Forrester Research forecasting online sales to reach $210 billion in 2012 and $249 billion by 2014, online retailers are at the cusp of tremendous growth and opportunity. So what should you do to grab a substantial piece of that $210 billion pie this year? Based on industry predictions and our own experiences at Fifth [...]
Continue Reading...When was the last time you took a good look at your operations? Most multichannel retailers treat their retail operations as the stepdaughters treated Cinderella – leave it to do the dirty work of the pick and packprocess while they focus on the more glamorous functions like site design, merchandising, and social marketing. But since [...]
Continue Reading...How many brand managers do you have? Now, how about channel managers? I’m willing to bet that for most of you retailers out there, the answer might be one – if you even have one at all. As the number of direct-to-consumer channels increases by the hour, it becomes increasingly difficult for a retailer to [...]
Continue Reading...Common sense tells us that seeing a product video can provide more detail and simulate a hands-on shopping experience. Top retailers have dramatically increased their use of product videos, particularly the leading ecommerce sites such as Overstock, HSN, QVC and Target. The addition of product videos means more engagement, thus higher conversion rates than those [...]
Continue Reading...What makes the customer check that top box instead of any of the ones below it? You have been working on your order fulfillment process, refining it to meet your predetermined productivity and efficiency levels. However, experts recommend that you also synchronize your fulfillment services based on your customers’ expectations and treat your retail operations [...]
Continue Reading...The Super Bowl is over and the retailers had a rocking party as customers shopped to their sports-loving hearts’ content. With all that behind us, it’s now time to focus on a holiday that retailers and marketers alike have really grown to love: Valentine’s Day. According to the NRF’s Customer Intentions Survey, experts are projecting [...]
Continue Reading...Picture your customer sitting in front of their PC happily shopping on your site. Either they’ve clicked tirelessly trying to make a final decision, or quite the opposite – they knew exactly what they wanted to purchase and dropped their products into the cart in a matter of seconds. Either way, now it’s time to [...]
Continue Reading...Reevoo, a provider of social commerce solutions based in the UK, recently conducted a study on consumer reviews hosted on retail websites. The results were quite surprising – 68% of shoppers had a greater sense of trust for the retailer when both positive and negative reviews were present. Furthermore, 30% of respondents actually suspected that [...]
Continue Reading...Ready for the biggest sporting event in the country? We are – especially since it’s happening right in our beautiful backyard! As Super Bowl 46 kicks off here in Indy on Sunday, the last thing on most retailers’ minds is sports! If anything, “How can I use the event to promote myself?” seems to be [...]
Continue Reading...At Fifth Gear, we pride ourselves in being an active contributor to the retail industry. So it’s with great pleasure that I say that Fifth Gear is a proud sponsor of NEMOA (National Etailing and Mailing Organization of America)’s Spring 2012 directXchange Conference. The event, held March 14-16 this year in Boston, is one of [...]
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