GameQuestDirect Implements GoECart 360

GoECart reports that one of its clients, video game retailer GameQuestDirect.com, has successfully replaced multiple operations systems with the company's all-in-one eCommerce suite GoECart 360.
 
Until implementing GoECart, GameQuestDirect used three systems to run its multi-channel retail operation: a stand-alone eCommerce solution, an independent Order Management System (OMS), and a separate shipping system. 

Since switching to GoECart, GameQuestDirect has lowered its costs by 60% while increasing order volume by 40%. 

GameQuestDirect boasts the "world's largest selection" of new and rare video games online with more than 10,000 titles for all leading game consoles. In addition to selling via its own Website, the company also sells its products through 15+ online marketplaces including Amazon.com, eBay, and Buy.com.

Order Motion Releases OMX 4.0

OrderMotion Inc., a leading cloud-based solution provider, has launched OMX 4.0, which offers new enhancements to its Order Management Solution, including dynamic kit capabilities.

Users can now customize and personalize marketing kits and offers to deliver a more personal and distinct buying experience.

With OMX 4.0, retailers are able to offer their customers the ability to order swappable items and customized items to further enhance their online shopping experience.  Continuity programs can also be customized with each shipment, providing merchandisers and marketers a dynamic and engaging process for customers.

In addition, new functionality allows Customer Service Reps (CSRs) to upsell and cross-sell new items through a “Resize” feature. Another key feature is the enhanced “Surprise and Delight” capability that allow custom configuration of standing orders to include a free gift to a customer by customer type or with a specified shipment by order number as part of a continuity program or a special offer.

OrderMotion Partners With Grand River

Grand River, Inc., a leading eCommerce developer, has formed a partnership with OrderMotion Inc., a leading cloud-based order management solution provider, to deliver eCommerce solutions to their mutual clients. 

Grand River’s services include eCommerce consulting, brand strategy, creative design, information architecture, usability expertise and system engineering. Their clients include several of Internet Retailer’s Top 500 firms and leading online merchants such as Gander Mountain, Zumiez, Steelcase, Pet Supplies Plus, Ford Direct and Lake Champlain Chocolates.

OrderMotion offers a cloud-based technology that is used to manage and integrate with eCommerce storefronts, call centers, payment processors, customer service centers, fulfillment solutions, ERPs and financial packages to provide direct-to-consumer (D2C) campaigns and order management. Their solution extends eCommerce capabilities by adding profit-generating retention tools such as auto-ship and continuity management.  With robust reporting and analytics, cross-channel self-service and CRM, as well as advanced tools for merchandise, planning & analysis (MP&A), product information management (PIM) and distributed order management (DOM), OrderMotion is a comprehensive solution that complements eCommerce platforms it works with.

“We’re excited about this partnership with Grand River,” said George Winter, vice president      eCommerce sales at OrderMotion, “and have the utmost respect for their knowledge and experience with multichannel eCommerce operations. Together we will bring our customers what we call ‘the science of retail’ – the complex mix of processes and rules that help online merchants build the seamless cross-channel experiences that power successful brands.”

JDA and RedPrairie Merge

JDA, a leader in supply chain planning, merchandising and pricing solutions has merged with RedPrairie, a major player in warehousing, workforce management, store operations and eCommerce solutions.

Hamish Brewer, CEO of JDA, will lead the combined company as its CEO. Mr. Brewer has more than 20 years of industry experience and a proven track record of successfully integrating large businesses.

RedPrairie's CEO, Michael Mayoras, will remain on the board of the combined company.

The Board of Directors of the combined company will be composed of the current members of the RedPrairie Board, including: Alok Singh, Michael Mayoras, Nanci Caldwell, Martin Hiscox, Lawrence Jackson, Thomas Manley, Peter Masucci, Tim Pawlenty and Janet Perna. Upon closing of the transaction, RedPrairie expects that Hamish Brewer will join the RedPrairie Board of Directors.

Sanderson Announces New Appointments

Sanderson, a publicly owned provider of multi-channel retail solutions, has announced new appointments in its Multi-Channel Retail business. These appointments are the latest in a series of new appointments, boosting the capacity of the Operations team during a period of continued business growth.

Jason Ayres joins as Programme Manager for the Elucid multi-channel retail solution, a new role responsible for the management and allocation of projects to the Development and Professional Services teams. Jason brings a wealth of experience in both IT programme and project management from the retail and wholesale market sectors.

Shannon Oakley has been appointed as the new client facing Project Manager responsible for the successful delivery of customer projects by the Elucid Professional Services team. A qualified and experienced project manager, Shannon has a strong background in skilfully managing and delivering a wide range of IT services projects.

Commenting on the latest appointments, Ian Newcombe, Managing Director of Sanderson Multi-Channel Solutions says: “Both Jason and Shannon’s appointments are key additions to our expanding Operations team at this exciting stage of our business development. Increasing our resource and capacity reinforces our continued focus on customer service and driving further growth in the multi-channel retail solutions market.”

The Emperor's New Clothes: Customer Experience Management

In the last couple of years the field of "Customer Experience Management" (CXM) has become a big focus for combining "Customer Relationship Management" (CRM) and "Content Management Systems" (CMS) or "Web Content Management" (WCM) with Order Management Systems (OMS), eCommerce platforms (plus mobile, tablets, etc.), and social media.

This would seem to be a nirvana of systems confluence, the holy grail of multichannel customer activity. The thinking underlying CXM is that this places the emphasis where it belongs, on how the customer navigates a Website (or possibly a store) to find what they want to purchase, and how the purchase itself can be most effectively supported and enhanced (from cross-sells and upsells to product reviews, guarantees, warranties, and so on). A lot of this, of course, will be based on analysis of customer activity, both in real-time and historically. Typical direct marketing database challenges.

One practioner refers to it as "a marriage that empowers the eCommerce platform to create experiences rather than simple transactions."

Fair enough. But there's only one problem with all of this: as Forbes pointed out a year and a half ago, "No one vendor offers all the components, though some – like Adobe, IBM, and Oracle – are working on acquisitions." I don't think any of them have achieved that goal as yet.

A Management Challenge
Which means that CXM is more of a management challenge than a systems challenge. It requires configuring each of the components to make the customer's experience as simple, straightforward, and pleasing as possible. And this is not at all easy.

Take site search, for example. In January 2011 I wrote a blog post on the subject, pointing out some of the complexities of this rather arcane functionality. Not for the faint of heart! But in many ways, site search and other "utilities" like it are probably at the core of any successful CXM suite.

Essentially, I see the problem as somehow juggling technology, statistical analysis, content, customer data and profiling, affiliate management, and corporate hierarchies on behalf of customers whose business you are competing with the rest of the world to earn and profit from. This is nothing new: back in the heyday of the specialty catalog (1975 - 1995), designers were very strategic about what they put on the catalog cover (they still are!), but that didn't mean you would always have it in stock to meet demand, or that customers would always be satisfied with their purchase. It was sometimes a "political" decision (as in "the company president and chief buyer just got back from Thailand and this is what they bought a thousand of"), and of course that is always a dicey proposition.

So CXM is going to be a work-in-process for some time to come. Maybe five years from now, with some new technology (including advances in interface tools and gadgets plus social media) and some new blood in middle (if not upper) management, things will be easier. For the time being, though, it's the same-old same-old, and CXM is just another acronym puzzle floating in the alphabet soup.

For some articles on CXM, see:
The Emergence of CXM Solutions: Forbes
Focus On Customer Experience To Navigate Digital Disruption: Forrester
The Content Repository is the Key to Customer Experience Mmanagement: mindtouch
A New King In Town For Managing e-Commerce Experiences: CMS Wire

And as always, I welcome your feedback, input, and comments. Very much so, in this case!

Dydacomp Introduces SaaS System

Dydacomp, vendor of the Multichannel Order Manager(M.O.M.) system and SiteLINK eCommerce platform, has announced its first new product in many years: Freestyle Commerce. 

Freestyle is a cloud-based order management solution for retailers who are automating order processing for the first time. It‘s functionality is intended as a subset of the existing capabilities in M.O.M., with a few new things made possible because it’s an online-only system. The system was developed from scratch, however, with no code reused from M.O.M. or SiteLINK. 

M.O.M. and SiteLINK will continue to be sold, enhanced and supported. They are Dydacomp’s core products and M.O.M. will remain their only on-premise order management software solution. SiteLINK will work exclusively with M.O.M.

Freestyle is an alternative for new customers to consider when automating their order management processes. It is not an upgrade to or replacement for M.O.M., and it is not a hosted version of M.O.M. Many of the more advanced features in M.O.M. are not initially available in Freestyle but will be added over time.

There is no end-of-life planned for the M.O.M. or SiteLINK products, either. Dydacomp intends to continue to enhance, sell and support both those products. 

With Freestyle Commerce, retailers can:

• Keep customers informed about in-stock, committed, back-ordered, packed, or shipped items
• Seamlessly integrate fulfillment operations across multiple channels into a single workflow from shopping to shipping
• Sell their entire stock or just a small subset through Amazon.
• Automatically download new orders, publish product information and synchronize inventory across channels