Industry News - October 17th, 2008
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RETAIL AND TECHNOLOGY NEWS |
SkyMall Launches Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews
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Multi-channel retailer SkyMall launches Bazaarvoice Ratings &
Reviews on its Web site, skymall.com. SkyMall is a multi-channel
marketer that offers unique merchandise from direct marketers and
manufacturers through its SkyMall catalog and Web site. The in-flight
SkyMall catalog is seen by approximately 90% of all domestic air
passengers reaching more than 650 million air travelers annually.
SkyMall went live with Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews in July 2008,
allowing its customers to share their opinions on products to help each
other make more informed purchase decisions. In just the first week,
SkyMall amassed reviews on almost 1,000 products and leveraged the
ratings throughout the site to merchandise featured products called
'hot items.' SkyMall also identifies top contributors with a special
button, calling attention to reviewers who provide numerous, helpful
product reviews.
"By allowing our customers to engage in a frank, open dialogue between
themselves and with our company, we have not only found many ways to
better satisfy our customers, but have gained additional insights into
which products are popular, which are not, and why," says Christine
Aguilera, president of SkyMall.
SkyMall plans to eventually include review content in the in-flight
SkyMall catalog and is already using it in its e-mail marketing
programs. The company also integrated all Ratings & Review content
within their CRM tool - allowing call center representatives to share
product ratings with prospective customers and help increase overall
purchase satisfaction.
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Rockport Adds Innovative New Features to Web Store |
The Rockport Company redesigns its Web site to include parametric
navigation, multi-product views, social bookmarking and various other
innovative functionalities. The latest features added to Rockport.com
help customers find the perfect shoe and improve the overall user
experience.
Rockport selected gsi interactive, the marketing unit of GSI Commerce,
to spearhead the redesign. Rockport has partnered with GSI since 2003
for services including e-commerce technology, customer care and
marketing services.
"It's important that the Rockport Web store incorporates the latest
tools and functionality so that customers can easily browse our
innovative footwear collections and quickly find the perfect shoe,"
says Russ Gallant, digital marketing manager, Rockport. "gsi
interactive's design and photography solutions not only improved our
customers' online shopping experience, but also helped Rockport to
effectively communicate the offline brand experience on the Internet."
Features of the redesigned Rockport Web store include:
- Parametric navigation allows shoppers to sort shoes by standard
product attributes such as heel size, style, and by additional
attributes such as color and 'machine washable.' It also sorts shoes by
categories unique to Rockport such as collections, technologies and
occasions.
-All new product photography with alternate views help bring the
products to life and allows shoppers to make informed purchase
decisions through multiple product views and a variety of stylized
angles that show off product details, such as stitching.
-Streamlined shopping with Express Shop and Mini-Cart. Express Shop
allows consumers to stay within Rockport's online brand experience by
allowing them to view an item in more detail. Mini-Cart enables
shoppers to add items the Web store's mini shopping cart without having
to load an additional page.
-Internationalization/retail locator helps enable multi-channel
integration, drives in-store purchases and supports Rockport's global
market with geo-location software. The software automatically displays
the nearest Rockport brick-and-mortar stores for both U.S. and
international users.
-Expanded product technology icons identify the type of technology used
in products that make Rockport shoes unique and innovative, such as
'dynamic suspension'.
-Social bookmarking encourages shoppers to share their favorite
Rockport product and connect with other users within the global
Rockport online community by providing a quick link to their favorite
social networks, such as Facebook, Delicious, Digg and StumbleUpon.
-Featured products using Flash technology delivers a unique experience
that highlights 'Styles of the Season' that complement Rockport's
innovative fashion and technology.
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Moosejaw Mountaineering Adds Web 2.0 Interactivity |
Moosejaw Mountaineering, an outdoor equipment retailer, revamps its Web
site based on the IBM WebSphere Commerce Enterprise platform to feature
new interactive Web 2.0-based games, contests, chats and promotions,
adding new service capabilities and community features to online
shopping.
Moosejaw has redesigned its Web site and replicated its immersive store
experience to help drive increased customer advocacy and loyalty across
multiple channels.
The 16-year old company built its brand by integrating games and
socialization techniques to make the shopping experience more fun. To
bring that same playful and interactive experience online, the retailer
sought the use of technology to communicate with its growing global
audience, launch creative marketing campaigns and extend the Moosejaw
brand through viral networking efforts. In addition, the company wanted
to help consumers make peer-based purchasing decisions by integrating
customer reviews and product ratings. Another priority was to make it
easier for customers to locate and buy products across various
channels. Lastly, the company wanted to solicit real-time feedback from
customers to better gauge their likes and dislikes, to determine future
promotions and purchasing decisions.
With the help of services and solutions from IBM and IBM Business
Partner, CrossView, the company rebuilt its Web site, gained improved
visibility into its inventory and installed new point of sale systems
in each of its eight retail stores. By implementing CrossView’s
suite of products, Moosejaw uses its e-commerce platform based on the
IBM Retail Integration Framework, to drive interactions at call center,
Web pages and retail stores. The site provides community features such
as online games like rock, paper, scissors, ability to chat with fellow
outdoor-lovers, compare various product reviews and opportunities to
download money-saving coupons, while they shop for the latest
snowboarding gear.
"Socializing and shopping are two activities that go hand-in-hand, and
that is why we chose to build the most engaging Web platform possible
for the Moosejaw community," says Robert Wolf, COO, Moosejaw. "IBM is
allowing us to spend less time processing web orders and more time
marketing the products we are so passionate about."
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Morrisons Supermarkets Deploys Integrated POS, Store and Fuel System |
Morrisons, a UK-based supermarket chain adds Retalix software to
increase operational efficiency and enhance the shopping experience
across its 378 stores and 285 filling stations. In 2007, Morrisons
announced a three-year IT investment program to replace its legacy
systems.
Previously, Morrisons used four different systems for the different POS
functional areas in its stores - the checkout lanes, in-store quick
service restaurants, dry cleaning service counters and fueling sites.
After a thorough evaluation process of store systems, Morrisons
selected an integrated system of Retalix software applications that
includes Retalix StoreLine POS, quick-service-restaurant (QSR) and
self-checkout applications for the stores, as well as Retalix Fuel for
its fueling sites. In addition, Morrisons will use Retalix software to
automate its back-office cash management process.
"Morrisons requires proven, world-class retail systems to achieve our
business requirements for profitable growth today and in the future,"
says Gary Barr, IT Director at Morrisons. "We found that Retalix most
suitably meets our needs, providing us with a single store system that
is capable of delivering all of the functionality required to serve our
customers and colleagues through an efficient, flexible, resilient and
scalable solution which meets our current and future business
requirements."
"The Retalix system provides scalability and flexibility to support
stores of varying sizes with different selling formats and is rich with
features and functionality," says Barr. "The new store system from
Retalix will help us deliver an enhanced shopping experience to the 10
million customers that walk through our doors each week."
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Imperial Trading Gains Continuous Support for Communication and Connectivity
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Imperial Trading Company has renewed its relationship to have Inovis
continue to support its communication and connectivity with the
Inovisworks Value Added Network (VAN) for business community management
communication and visibility between the wholesale grocer and its
convenience store and grocery customers.
"We are excited to renew an important regional grocery and perishable
goods distributor," says Steve Cochran, chief marketing officer,
Inovis. "Imperial has a strong track record of stellar customer
service, a corporate attribute that Inovis is happy to share with their
company."
The retailer uses the Inovis' business community management and
communication services as a single platform to manage the movement of
transactions across communities, technology and support requirements.
This connectivity is supported by the Inovis Multi-enterprise Expert
Service Hub (MESH) platform and Inovis Business Process Protection
Services. The platform supports a wide range of data formats as well as
connectivity, access, transport and security options.
RadioShack Adds News POS and Store Management Software
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RadioShack chooses GlobalSTORE, StoreCENTER and ReturnCENTER software
from Fujitsu to automate its POS operations and create a centralized
store management and returns management system. This software will be
deployed in 4,500 RadioShack locations across the United States
starting in 2009.
"Fujitsu's software was selected to give us flexibility and
functionality in meeting our future business needs in a timely and
effective manner," says Michael Kriesman, senior director of store
systems at RadioShack. "We look forward to working with them to
integrate point-of-sale solutions across our enterprise."
Fujitsu's GlobalSTORE application is a customizable POS, cash
management and back office platform that runs on a Microsoft
Windows-based integrated retail software platform and employs
service-oriented architecture (SOA). RadioShack will use Fujitsu's
StoreCENTER software to gain centralized store management by
aggregating and reporting data from across the retail enterprise in
real-time. The retailer will use ReturnCENTER as its centralized
returns management application and will be able to manage returns
across channels (in-store, phone and Internet).
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