Cross-Channel Executive Commentary

  1. What Are Consumers Telling Us About Black Friday? 10/19/2018

    Regardless of stating a clear intention to participate in Black Friday, consumers appear to be keeping their options wide open when it comes to exactly which items they will buy — and from whom.

  2. Going Global: How Crane USA Embraced Data Standards For Omni-Channel Agility 10/15/2018

    In today’s highly competitive retail environment, mounting pressure can surround any brand. Consumers want convenience, quality, and transparency. Retailers want to hold their margins. Manufacturers around the globe seek to minimize costs and balance production windows with accelerated turnaround cycles.With rising demand, manual order fulfillment and inventory management processes simply won’t yield success.

  3. The Future Of Cashier-Less Checkout 9/21/2018

    Speed or customer service? Most shoppers face that choice when visiting a typical grocery store and head to checkout. Do they opt for the self-check lane instead of waiting in the full-service checkout line? What do consumers give up or gain with each choice? What do retailers gain or lose?

  4. What Can Retailers Learn From This Year’s Amazon Prime Day? 9/13/2018

    In July 2015, Amazon’s iconic Prime Day online summer retail event made its first debut. Fast forward to 2018, and this year Amazon reports its fourth annual Prime Day surpassed all prior sales records in the e-commerce giant’s 24-year history – including every Black Friday and Cyber Monday – with Prime members ordering over 100 million products during the 36-hour sales event. What does this all mean for retailers, and how can they effectively compete? To examine shopper sentiment toward the event and how it’s reshaping purchasing behaviors, Periscope By McKinsey surveyed 3,000 consumers in the U.S., UK, France, Italy and Germany to understand their attitudes and actions during Amazon Prime Day 2018.

  5. Why Your Supply Chain Is The Key To The Future Of Your Business 9/3/2018

    Make no mistake about it; your business’ ability to scale up and sustain itself in the future will be affected in part by how you think about your supply chain and its ability to match your company’s culture and your customers’ expectations.

  6. Why Retail Needs A Web-Enabled Barcode 8/27/2018

    Consumers around the globe are scanning products using their smartphones to learn more about what they want to buy — or what they’ve just purchased. Some manufacturers have responded by adding QR codes and secondary barcodes on packages that connect consumers to more product information. Not only do these extra codes take up valuable label “real estate,” but they may not even contain standardized product identifiers like UPCs, causing confusion when scanning at point-of-sale checkout counters.

  7. Small Businesses Are Out Of Time To Get Online 7/16/2018

    As consumers shift to online channels for their purchases, it is heavily affecting large brick and mortar retailers. However, what is the impact on small to medium-sized businesses, or SMBs, and local retailers?

  8. The Virtual Marketplace Is Changing The Age-Old Rules Of Commerce 4/23/2018

    There is something almost quaint about the word “marketplace.” It conjures up images of people hawking spices and fruit from busy stalls as pedestrians stroll past in a leisurely manner. Those days are almost entirely gone. Today’s consumers typically aren’t at a bazaar. Nor are they headed to a row of small shops on Main Street or driving out to the large suburban mall to window shop. Instead, an ever-increasing amount of the time, they are online.

  9. Store Brands Need Standardized Product Identification To Compete Online 4/17/2018

    One of the many significant changes taking place in retail is store brand — or private label — product sales are showing impressive growth compared with traditional and national brands. Many retailers are not currently set up to optimize online sales of their store brands and are missing an opportunity to take advantage of the power of private label sales via digital channels. By implementing GS1 Standards and accurately assigning GS1 Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs) — commonly known as U.P.C.s — to their store brand products, they can deliver a consistent, omni-channel shopping experience, grow their sales, and improve customer satisfaction.

  10. Don’t Underestimate The Importance Of Monitoring Your Consumer’s Experience 4/4/2018

    E-commerce companies need a multi-pronged approach to monitoring systems and maintaining visibility during a customer’s experience — all the way through to the checkout process. Successful companies know a positive, trouble-free customer experience and fast page load times lead to increased revenue.