A decade after the rise of e-commerce, today’s mobile technologies and social media applications have contributed to a convergence of consumer demand and technology.
Consumers now expect constant connectivity and interactivity from retail brands and retailers must embrace omni-channel retailing, an integrated sales experience that melds the advantages of physical stores with the information-rich experience of online shopping.
Omni-channel means seeing things from a consumer’s point of view, not from the comfort of your own business boundaries.
It means interacting with customers via their three channels of exploration: social, mobile and local, at every stage of the purchasing process.
Retail Technology writes on RichRelevance’s mobile study.
A recent report on mobile shopping behaviour found significant differences in the way Britons shop across platforms, according to e-commerce expert Darren Hitchcock
A 2012 study, conducted by e-commerce recommendations technology provider RichRelevance from analysis of more than 1.1 billion shopping sessions across mobile device and desktop computers in both the UK and US, revealed four key trends that offer important insight for British retailers.
Darren Hitchcock, vice president of RichRelevance in the UK and Europe highlighted that, first and foremost, mobile shopping continues to outpace desktop purchasing.
Blame the rain when that $600 Nordstrom order shows up at your doorstep.
A study by a San Francisco-based Rich Relevance shows the weather could impact how and where you spend your money. Mariah Walton writes that she set out to determine whether wet weather increases online sales, using Seattle as a guinea pig:
My original hypothesis was simple: Weather affects how and when people shop. To extrapolate that even further, I’ll surmise that people habituated to rain, like Seattle natives, will abandon the digital world when it’s sunny and enjoy the great outdoors.
Matalan is investing “significant” sums in improving its ecommerce and multichannel operations in order to “put customers at the heart” of its business.
Matalan has introduced automated recommendations on its website.
The fashion-to-homewares value retailer aims to give shoppers a more personalised online experience while itself gaining more flexibility through merchandising control by using RichRelevance’s dynamic personalisation technology.
“Personalisation enables us to build trust and loyalty with our customers by providing an experience that is dynamically tailored for them,” said Andrew Scott, head of ecommerce and international at Matalan. “Having worked with other personalisation providers, I can attest to the fact they are not created equally. With RichRelevance, we gained increased flexibility in merchandising controls and in-country support. We have been very impressed with the initial results of the implementation and I am confident that our partnership with RichRelevance will continue to grow as we grow.”
Darren Hitchcock, RichRelevance vice president of UK and Europe, said: “It is a very strategic move for Matalan to implement a personalisation initiative. Matalan’s unique offer is to provide customers with on-trend fashion at competitive prices. When product prices are low, increasing AOV (average order value) is one of the most efficient ways to enhance revenue. Personalised recommendations are extremely effective for driving up AOV and we’ve seen significant results with this implementation since launch.”
Matalan joins UK retailers including Marks & Spencer and John Lewis on the Rich Relevance client roster.
In my last blog, I demonstrated how the noise in online sales data could be correlated (to some extent) to the weather. What I didn’t tell you was that I was saving my more interesting findings for a separate post.
Geek Wire writes on the recent blog by RichRelevance’s Mariah Walton
One particularly bleak January day, while staring at my computer screen for what seemed the 17th hour on an incredibly tedious, time-consuming freelance project, I did what many would do — I turned to Zappos.
Two days later, more than $800 in Frye boots landed at my doorstep. It was then that I realized that I had a little problem: shopping online when I was bored and frustrated, especially when going outside did not seem that appealing.
I may not be alone. RichRelevance, a San Francisco-based firm that analyzes behavior and data for its retail clients like Wal-Mart and Target, asked the question: Does weather affect online shopping habits? And they turned to none other than our fair cloud-and-mist-covered city of Seattle to start digging around.
Mariah Walton of the RichRelevance analytics team spearheaded the experiment. Walton has studied climate change, and she was curious about how the environment affects our shopping habits.
“My original hypothesis was simple: Weather affects how and when people shop,” Walton writes on RichRelevance’s blog. “To extrapolate that even further, I’ll surmise that people habituated to rain, like Seattle natives, will abandon the digital world when it’s sunny and enjoy the great outdoors.”
TechCrunch’s Crunch Base on recent RichRelevance funding announcement
In May, we reported that e-commerce recommendations provider RichRelevance had raised $20 million in new funding led by Crosslink Capital, with Greylock Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Tugboat Ventures participating. The company has added an additional $8 million to close out the oversubscribed round, with new funding coming from RTP Ventures, Shea Ventures, and Gray Ventures, and with existing investor Tugboat Ventures participating.