Cabela's Wins Award for Digby Localpoint Service

Cabela’s was named by RIS News as the winner of the 2012 RIS News Fusion Awards. Presented at the RIS News Cross-Channel Retail Executive Summit/Social-Mobile Convergence Forum, the awards recognize retail companies that are leaders, successful performers and technology innovators, specifically in the area of cross-channel excellence and fusing IT solutions with business strategy.

The panel of judges have recognized initiatives that use mobile technology effectively to promote cross-channel customer activity, leading to enhanced customer experience, greater linkage of retail sites and communication channels, and achievement of strong business performance benefits.

Cabela’s, through its new application powered by Digby Localpoint, can engage with its customers through its own mobile app leveraging location, marketing, analytics, and mCommerce. Cabela’s enhances its branded catalog and in-store experiences by incorporating a barcode and QR code scanner into its mobile app so consumers can scan products in store or in the Cabela’s catalog to learn more about products, including product descriptions, ratings and reviews, videos and promotional offers.

Topgrade Sportswear Selects Elucid

Sanderson, the publicly-owned UK provider of multi-channel retail software, has implemented its Elucid system at Topgrade Sportswear, a leading sports and fashion retailer and wholesaler.

The new system streamlines and improves warehouse operations, offering faster delivery and enhancing customer service. It also expands sales and marketing capabilities across the business by consolidating data from all sales channels to underpin the merchant's multichannel strategy.

Part of the JD Sports group of companies, Topgrade Sportswear selected Elucid for its ability to support both the company’s wholesale operation and their ‘Get the Label’ online retail business, which is experiencing significant growth.

The Elucid system processes and fulfils all wholesale and online sales, increasing the number of orders dispatched each day and providing real-time stock levels with improved stock control.

By using a single system across both businesses, and at separate warehouse locations, Topgrade Sportswear is benefiting from extensive visibility of their customers, operations and stock, which is boosting service levels and response times. In addition, the company has reduced ‘product to market’ time scales by streamlining buying processes and strengthening supplier relationships with key manufacturers.

Paul Simpson, Managing Director, Topgrade Sportswear, comments: “Our investment with Sanderson forms an integral part of our growth strategy. The Elucid system allows us to manage multiple businesses whilst generating company-wide efficiencies by optimizing multichannel processes.”

Ian Newcombe, Managing Director, Sanderson Multi-Channel Solutions, added: “We are very pleased that Topgrade Sportswear are realizing the immediate benefits of the Elucid Multi-Channel system. We look forward to working together to support the next phase of their growth.”

L.K. Bennett Selects StoreActive

L.K.Bennett has selected retail module StoreActive, part of the ActiveSeries suite from MNP Media Ltd., to provide an integrated in-store ordering platform that delivers Click & Collect/Ship and (very soon) multi-channel returns management.

With a UK network of over 80 stores, L.K.Bennett is an international luxury brand selling women's shoes, ready-to-wear, handbags and accessories.

StoreActive is designed to be tablet-independent or used through browser-based POS, linking the direct channel warehouse inventory to all retail locations to ensure all sale opportunities are captured. The system works by allowing the sales assistant to search for the customer's product requirements using size/color/style and place an order linked to real-time inventory. The customer can then pay via a chip-and-pin credit or debit card, or securely online. The order is then shipped to store, home or work.

MNP’s was selected based on its proven track record of high-volume order processing together with its experience in multi-channel retail both in UK and overseas. L.K.Bennett has also selected MNP to provide ActiveSeries ERP for their direct channel based in the USA.

Pierre D’Arbost, Managing Director, MNP commented, “As retailers are moving into omni-channel  sales, we must ensure that sales platforms can be easily integrated to satisfy the demands of retail customers. We bridge the gap between retail and online for our clients.”

Joseph Turner, UK, Selects Elucid

Sanderson, the publicly owned UK provider of multi-channel retail software, has implemented its Elucid system at Joseph Turner, a leading retailer of high quality men's wear. The Yorkshire-based fashion company operates through multiple channels, including mail order catalog, online retail, and a factory shop.

Joseph Turner selected the Elucid system to support the company’s ambitious expansion plans, which include the launch of their first-ever women's wear catalog, as well as to support the long-term growth of their mail order and online businesses and strengthen operational visibility and control across the company.
 

Elucid integrates ecommerce, ePOS, and mail order sales with back office operations in one single IT solution. Real-time integration of Joseph Turner’s sales with the Elucid back office system ensures fast sales order processing, prompt order despatching, and real-time stock control, increasing operational efficiencies. In addition, Joseph Turner is benefiting from new management information dashboards for more effective decision making, reliable and accurate stock availability on their Website, and a tokenized payment gateway for increased transaction security.

Crossview Sees Improvements in SoMo Markting

CrossView, Inc., a  cross-channel commerce solutions and services provider, released the results of its 2012 Cross-Channel Readiness survey that looked at retailers across a variety of categories, gauging improvements and declines in enabling customers to shop in-store, online, in call centers and via mobile with a consistent brand experience.

This year’s study showed improvement in several key areas from last year, particularly in mobile commerce, social sharing and consistency in marketing promotions.

In an analysis of four touchpoints— online, in-store, call center and mobile—retailers could score up to 280 points, and those surveyed had a combined average of 177 points, with Best Buy achieving a perfect score. Other findings highlighted in a detailed report on the survey include:

• 92 percent of retailers enabled social sharing in their web stores – up from 88 percent in 2011. 
• 79 percent of retailers offered the same marketing promotion across all touchpoints in 2012 – up from 65 percent in 2011.   
• 72 percent of retailers offered ratings and reviews in their web stores – a 39 percent rise year over year.

Big Mobile Gains
The most pronounced move was in the area of mobile commerce. In 2011, only 12 percent of retailers offered shoppers a mobile application for the smartphone. This jumped to 56 percent in 2012. 

This year’s survey shows a steady beat of progress,” said Mark Fodor, chief executive officer, CrossView. While the needle didn’t move terribly far, it registers in the right direction in a few key areas. What’s clear to us in our work with leading brands is that no touchpoint is viewed as a separate entity by consumers – each is an extension of the same brand. So, consistency is critical, fitting hand in glove with an effective cross-channel strategy.“

Each retailer was evaluated via a mystery shopping approach. A variety of criteria were used, including consistency of pricing and promotions, access to customer profile information, merchandising, and, to the extent possible, overall parity of experience between touchpoints.

About CrossView: CrossView is a premier provider of cross-channel commerce solutions and services that enable a personalized shopping experience that unifies the Web, stores, call centers, mobile devices, and other channels on a single, flexible platform. 

MasterCard Acquires Truaxis For Offer Management

MasterCard has announced the acquisition of Truaxis, a Redwood City, CA-based provider of credit and debit card-linked offers to consumers through merchants and financial institutions.

“The offer and rewards industry is rapidly evolving as consumers have demonstrated their desire for customized offers and savings that truly matter to their individual lifestyles,” said Tim Murphy, chief product officer, MasterCard. “By adding Truaxis’ expertise, its intellectual property and a talented team of software engineers to MasterCard, we increase our capabilities to offer merchants and financial institutions a solution that helps them better connect with consumers while evolving the model from the traditional coupon or daily deals offers programs that are popular today.”

ChannelAdvisor Announces 2012 Autumn Release

ChannelAdvisor, a global eCommerce software provider that helps retailers be seen and sell more across online channels, has announced its 2012 Autumn Release, introducing a new feature to manage Google Shopping, along with enhancements to its "Repricer" technology and Marketplaces solution.

Google Shipping Technology
Central to this year’s Autumn Release is ChannelAdvisor’s Google Shopping technology that was created to overcome the challenge of managing and optimizing Google’s Product Listing Ads (PLAs), which are the foundation of Google’s new commercial marketing program.  Combining the power of ChannelAdvisor’s feed management software with reporting and optimization technology specific to PLAs, this new offering provides retailers a unified platform to manage this important channel.

“Google has been one of the most successful marketing outlets for our customers, and the launch of Google Shopping presents an exciting opportunity for us,” commented Scot Wingo, CEO of ChannelAdvisor. “Our experience in the industry and established technology allowed us to respond to the new Google Shopping program with a powerful feature that will help retailers be more strategic and successful on this essential online channel.”

Rule-based Pricing Adjustments
The Autumn Release also introduces enhancements to ChannelAdvisor’s Repricer, a feature that offers rule-based price adjustments on Amazon. By improving the functionality of the Repricer, retailers are now able to implement more profitable strategies by repricing their most important items at faster frequencies.

Unlike other repricer tools in the industry, ChannelAdvisor’s enhanced feature includes predictive capabilities that enable retailers to test each individual product in real time to gauge performance, and then make adjustments accordingly.

“Price is one of the determining factors in winning the Amazon Buy Box, so we have made some powerful changes to our Repricer feature,” commented Link Walls, director of product management at ChannelAdvisor. “With the ability to employ advanced strategies, the Repricer is helping our customers succeed and be more profitable on Amazon.”

ChannelAdvisor has also augmented its Marketplaces solution to provide retailers additional support for established marketplaces like eBay as well as new and emerging marketplaces such as Newegg, Sears, OneStopPlus.com and Best Buy. Retailers will benefit from a variety of enhancements such as new functionality that enables a more efficient listing process for their products.