Articles

RSS

Upcoming web seminar will focus on execution in three key areas: the supply chain/merchandising link, the impact of collaboration on the shopping experience, and technology-enabled operations.

On March 31st at noon EST, I'll moderate a webinar featuring 1-800-Flowers VP of Enterprise Architecture and Business Intelligence Nachiket Desai and Karen Parrish, VP of Industry Solutions for IBM. The webcast will also be available on demand to anyone who registers here.

This is a great opportunity for you to hear from a VP at 1-800-Flowers, a retailer that's earned its designation as one of our industry's great cross-channel success stories. Over the years, I've had the pleasure of interviewing several execs from the company, including president Chris McCann, VP of Customer Knowledge Aaron Cano, and CIO Steve Bozzo. These guys are always candid and forthcoming about what works, what doesn't, and why. I'm anticipating this to be another enlightening conversation.

IBM's Karen Parrish will also be on the call, framing up the conversation with, among other insight, some stats that convey the need for smarter cross-channel retailing. For instance:

• 76% of online shoppers say content provided on retail sites is sometimes, often, or always insufficient to complete a purchase. Sort of defeats the purpose of building an e-commerce channel, doesn't it? We'll talk about how you can avoid this characterization of your site.
• $1.65 trillion is put at risk by retailers each year because they execute, on average, only 59% of promotional initiatives in the ways intended. This problem is exacerbated by improper cross-channel integration. We'll discuss some smart ways to improve cross-channel promotion execution.

There's your teaser — I encourage you to join us for the full picture. It's free, and if you can't make it for the live event, registering now will give you seamless access to the recorded webcast, which you can download at your leisure.