A special report on a selection of IRCE 2015 exhibitors and the technologies and services they provide e-retailers.

CUTTING-EDGEE-RETAIL TECHNOLOGY

AT IRCE

A special report from the editors of Internet Retailer

SPONSORED SPECIAL REPORT

T ECHNOLOGY IS AT THE HEART OF EVERY E-COMMERCE BUSINESS, from the e-commerce platform that keeps a site up and

running to the warehouse technology required to get an order picked, packed and out the door to the shopper. The fast clip of technology modernization keeps making applications smarter, faster, more accurate and often more cost-effective for retailers. Shopping for technology and services is among the reasons why more than 10,000 e-retail executives from around the world attend the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition, which takes place this month in Chicago.

More than 600 vendors will be exhibiting at IRCE, in an exhibit hall spanning 250,000 square feet. That’s a lot of vendors covering a lot of space. To provide a measure of direction, we highlight a handful of technology and service providers in this sponsored special report. In the profiles that follow, the vendors showcase the e-commerce tech-nology applications and services they will be demonstrating to e-retailers attending IRCE and in the months to come.

The providers profiled here cover an array of e-retail technology and service areas, including web design, e-commerce platforms, performance optimization,

mobile apps, personalization, digital marketing and more. To navigate these and the many additional service providers exhibiting at IRCE, we recommend downloading the event’s all-new mobile app, available for iOS and Android smartphones. Attendees can use the app to search for vendors by name or service category and get directions to their location on the exhibit floor.

Additionally, you can find the technology and service providers profiled in this sponsored special report at the following booth locations:

Rackspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #651Mozu by Volusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #721SalesWarp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #319Bronto Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #715Windsor Circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #1835MyBuys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #521Americaneagle.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #1219

The latest e-commerce technology applications and services exhibiting at IRCE are helping propel e-retailers to higher levels of success. Happy shopping.

—The Editors

Keeping pace with technology advances

Between 20-56% of retail app users opt to receive mobile push notifications, which means marketers cannot directly reach a significant

portion of mobile shoppers who download their apps.One way to close the gap is with in-app messages.

Unlike push notifications, a consumer doesn’t have to opt in to receive in-app messages, which significantly increases the number of app users retailers can send a message to. The other benefit of in-app messages is they are sent only when the app is open, making them an e�ective tool for prompting a shopper to take action while the retailer’s brand is top of mind.

In-app messages appear at the top or bottom of an app user’s smartphone or tablet screen and remain visible for a predetermined amount of time or until the consumer interacts with the message. Each time a consumer responds to an in-app message is an oppor-tunity for the retailer to deepen the relationship.

“In-app messaging provides retailers a way to put a call to action in front of the app user the moment she opens the app, such as o�ering a 10% o� coupon on an item she recently placed on her wish list,” says Bill Schneider, director of product marketing for Urban Airship.

As with push notifications, consumers expect in-app messages to be relevant and rewarding, such as by delivering coupons and discounts. One way retailers can boost the relevancy of in-app messages is to analyze app user behavior to identify customer segments to be targeted, such as customers that have left an item in their shopping cart.

Welcome messages are another example. A welcome message can encourage a first-time app user to register an account or thank her for downloading the app as the first step in a lifecycle marketing campaign. Messages can also be created that ask an

app user if he wants to share product an o�er through social media and via a share button built into the mes-sage to start the process.

Since in-app messages are part of the app experi-ence, Schneider recommends retailers design them using the same fonts, color schemes and language they use in their apps to create a consistent brand experi-ence. “The goal is to give the message the same look and feel of the app so it appears as a natural extension of the app rather than an intrusion,” Schneider says.

One use for in-app messages that can go over-looked is to o�er customers that initially have opted out of receiving push notifications a chance to opt in. Once a shopper has used the app, he is more likely to realize the value push notifications can provide. In addition, retailers will have information on the product categories and products shoppers are inter-ested in to personalize future messages. If not, his answers can provide insight into how to improve the relevancy and frequency of push notifications.

“For retailers to build a high-value relationship with their app users, they have to message with them from the moment they download the app,” Schneider says. “We’ve found that apps that are able to message their users within the first month are twice as likely to retain them. In-app messaging is a powerful way to achieve that level of engagement.”

Engage every app user

SPONSORED ARTICLE

For more information visit www.urbanairship.com

Sponsored by

SPONSORED SPECIAL REPORT

The entire process takes about a day, Metcalf says. Once the platform is up and running, retailers can start customizing it. Magento is an e-commerce software owned by eBay Enterprise, a unit of eBay Inc.

“We remove the complexity of infrastructure instal-lation and management so retailers can focus on e-commerce,” Metcalf says.

Rackspace Digital’s Managed Cloud for Magento can scale the platform as needed to accommodate unexpected spikes in traffic without adding a ded-

icated server. When the additional capacity is no longer needed, Rackspace allocates less capacity to the retailer. “This way retailers only pay for the additional capacity used, however long that is, versus buying additional capacity that is temporarily used,” Metcalf says.

Should a retailer decide to move away

from Managed Cloud for Magento it can transfer its digital assets, including custom applications it’s devel-oped, to another platform. That, Metcalf says, is some-thing a retailer can’t do if it’s using software delivered using the SaaS, or software as a service, model. A SaaS provider hosts the software and controls what it does. A retailer moving off a SaaS platform can’t take features it likes along. “Managed Cloud provides all the capabilities and ease of use of a SaaS solution, without the limitations.” Metcalf says.

With replatforming inevitable for many retailers, each e-commerce team faces this question: Do we want to perform the installation and all the mainte-nance work ourselves or outsource it to an expert?

“Managed Cloud for Magento gives retailers the technology infrastructure and platform management expertise they need,” Metcalf says. That way they can avoid the frustration of doing it themselves and are free to focus on their business.”

T HERE ARE TWO BIG REASONS why many retailers are concluding it’s time to install a new e-commerce platform:

Consumers are expecting more from online retail sites and the technology to enthrall online shoppers is rapidly advancing.

For most retailers, however, the thought of replat-forming, which requires moving digital assets from one platform to another, is distasteful. Platform installations can easily take months as a retailer goes through the 100 or more steps to install and configure a platform to its specifications. Those frequently involve months of mistakes, delays, budget overruns and frustration. Once a platform is up and running, a retailer still has to maintain and upgrade the appli-cations that make up the platform. That is not many retailers’ core competency.

So they often need help doing it quickly and efficiently.

“Retailers are realizing that speed to market and ease of installation are important when replatforming because the longer they stay on their legacy platform, the longer they have to wait to gain the benefits of a new platform, which can hold their business back,” says Kyle Metcalf, general manager of the digital practice area at Rackspace Inc., a provider of digital marketing infrastructure and application hosting needs. “That’s why retailers want solutions that can speed and simplify replatforming.”

Taking the responsibility for platform installation and maintenance out of a retailer’s hands can help them avoid pitfalls typically encountered when replacing a platform and free up technical resources for building a better e-commerce site.

Rackspace Digital’s Managed Cloud for Magento platform simplifies and speeds platform installation by fitting retailers into one of four Magento platform frameworks based on the number of sales per hour a retailer makes, Metcalf says. After a platform is selected, Rackspace Digital sets ups the servers to host it, loads the middleware to connect the retailer’s existing applications to each other, then enters Magento programming code to transfer the retailer’s digital assets onto the new platform.

Replatforming without tears

KYLE METCALFGeneral manager for Rackspace Inc.’s digital practice area. Rackspace is a vendor of digital marketing infrastructure and application hosting services.

Named as the #1 Hosting Provider for the Internet Retailer 1,000*

*Based on the number of companies ranked in Internet Retailer’s 2014 Top 500 Guide® and Second 500 Guide that name Rackspace as their web hosting provider.

SPONSORED SPECIAL REPORT

eliminates the need to rely on the information technology department to perform these duties.

“Small and mid-sized retailers want to be able to build and manage their websites without having to rely on the IT department, because they either don’t have many IT resources or those tasks are not core competencies,” Wallis says. “Mozu removes IT from customization requests with its

site management capabilities.”

Not only do online shoppers expect consistent web expe-riences across the many devices they use, they expect multi-channel retailers to extend that to stores, displaying the same inventory and provid-ing the same level of customer support. To

deliver a unified shopping journey retailers need to connect all software and business management applications to make the data visible through a single dashboard.

Mozu features a master product catalog that updates inventory levels across all sales chan-nels and enables retailers to add new products. Retailers can also share communications and data across multiple stores to effectively manage products and brands in each channel.

Mozu is built with open-source application programming interfaces, which Mozu says makes it easy for retailers to connect applications from other service vendors to the platform. This way an e-retailer can manage information about the e-commerce services it uses, such as its email marketing or payment gateway providers, from the Mozu dashboard.

W ITH CONSUMERS SPENDING MORE OF THEIR TIME online on mobile devices than personal computers,

retailers need an e-commerce platform that can deliver a consistent and satisfactory shopping experience across devices.

If a retail site is not easy to navigate on a smart-phone, mobile shoppers won’t convert. For exam-ple, only 2% of Jelly Belly Candy Co.’s revenue was coming from mobile sales due to a homegrown e-commerce platform that wasn’t responsive. After installing the mobile-optimized Mozu e-commerce platform by Volusion Inc., the candy maker saw revenue from mobile users jump to 30% of overall revenue, says Jason Wallis, chief technology officer for Mozu by Volusion.

“The Internet has become a mobile-first envi-ronment and mobile users that get the same rich shopping experience as they do on a personal computer convert at a higher rate than those who don’t,” Wallis says. “With Mozu, retailers can deliver the same customer experience across all devices.”

Delivering a consistent shopping experience across all devices requires platform agility. Mozu uses a single base programming code, as opposed to writing code for a mobile site and creating different software for a desktop site. That way a consumer can shop the retailer’s site easily regardless of the device she is using. That’s important because consumers often start shopping on one device and return later on another. If the site she sees is not consistent, the shopper may give up and shop elsewhere.

In addition to providing a consistent shopping look and feel across all devices shoppers use, Mozu empowers retailers to build and modify their websites using built-in administrative features, including content management, modular widgets and other real-time updating tools. The process

E-commerce without limits

JASON WALLISChief technology officer for Mozu by Volusion. Mozu is an e-commerce platform.

THE CLOUD

PLATFORM

COMMERCE

Mozu gives marketing teams real-time control over the

content, merchandising, and promotions that create more

engaging sites, faster. Spend less time being frustrated and

more time delivering an experience your customers will love.

MOZU.COM Schedule a custom demo today.

SPONSORED SPECIAL REPORT

GIVE A CUSTOMER THE EXPERIENCE SHE WANTS and she’ll keep coming back. As consumers increasingly move between

channels during their shopping journeys, retailers face a new set of operational challenges when it comes to delivering the kind of unified shopping experiences consumers expect. Today’s consumer not only wants to see the same inventory and receive the same level of customer support regardless of the sales channel, she also expects the retailer to present all elements of its brand in the same way, including products, prices and service.

Meeting these expectations requires an e-commerce platform that connects legacy applications from all channels so retailers can deliver a consistent omni-channel experience as a shopper moves between channels along the path to making a purchase. Unfortunately, many e-retailers are discovering their platforms can’t provide the functionality and scale needed to meet the expectations of today’s shopper, and they’re losing sales as a result.

“As consumers interact with retailers through more channels—online, mobile, in-store, marketplaces and over the phone—retailers need an e-commerce system that lets them see all product, order and customer data, and inventory, across all channels at once to properly manage the complexities of the omnichannel experience,” says David Potts, founder and CEO of SalesWarp, a provider of omnichannel management software.

To make the transition to omnichannel retailing, retailers must abolish the data silos that exist within each sales channel so that information can flow freely and be visible in real time through a single application. Small and mid-sized retailers are often frustrated when they attempt to connect their disparate legacy systems, in part because the effort strains their information technology resources.

SalesWarp’s web-based system includes middleware—software that connects other software systems—that breaks down data silos and connects

all of a retailer’s applications. What’s more, it makes the data within those applications available through a single dashboard.

“A lot of small and mid-sized retailers don’t have large IT departments, which limits their ability to implement and maintain an omnichannel platform,” Potts says. “Moving to a cloud-based platform gives

retailers more flexi-bility over integrating and managing their applications because application connectivity and updates are auto-matically managed for them. This, coupled with reduced internal server needs, can reduce overall IT costs from 7% of their operating budget, on average, to 4% to 5%. That’s a huge impact on profitability.”

SalesWarp’s platform architecture also makes it easier for retailers to adjust the customer experi-ence as needed, Potts says. Using the application’s advanced business logic retailers, for example, can instruct the platform to send a shopper an order confirmation email, and then a shipping notification, or determine what location has the inventory to fulfill the order and then route that order to that warehouse or even a retail store for fulfillment. SalesWarp also allows retailers to call up product and brand perfor-mance data by sales channel or product category. The information—accessible to users across the organization—can be used to change marketing and merchandising strategies or identify new strategies that can be applied to other products or brands.

“Presenting data in a way that retailers can imme-diately take action on and enabling those actions to easily be implemented is at the heart of the omnichannel shopping experience,” Potts says.

A smoother path to omnichannel retailing

DAVID POTTSFounder and CEO of SalesWarp, an omnichannel management software provider

STRUGGLING TO KEEP UP?Tired of using ine�cient or siloed systems to

manage your multi-channel business? Unify your

retail operations with a single cloud-based system

designed to deliver the peak performance and

scalability you need for continuous growth.

Visit BOOTH 319 @ IRCE to refuel with a fruit

smoothie while you experience SalesWarp’s

Commerce Management System. Visit

SalesWarp.com/IRCE to schedule a time.

SALESWARP.COM

Tell us why you need #RetailFuel and be entered to win cool fitness gadgets to help you get ahead.

WinTheWheels FullPageAd.indd 1 5/11/15 7:50 PM

SPONSORED SPECIAL REPORT

purchased the rod and reel combination, for exam-ple, an email thanking him for the purchase and suggesting tackle boxes, lures or hip waders, just as an in-store sales representative would.

One way for retailers to gather email addresses or mobile phone numbers from site visitors who have yet to make a purchase is to run a contest

that requires entrants to provide an email address or mobile phone number. Once the retailer has this information it can build a lifecycle marketing campaign starting with a welcome email or text message and then sending information about its loyalty program.

“Footwear retailer Boot Barn uses this

strategy regularly because it is an effective way to initially engage consumers and get them started on a lifecycle marketing campaign,” Colopy says. “The way for marketers to get their messages heard above the marketing din is to communicate seam-lessly with consumers across all sales channels.”

Bronto’s agreement to be acquired by e-commerce platform provider NetSuite Inc. for $200 million is expected to strengthen both companies’ abilities to break down the barriers that prevent customer data from being shared between their front- and back-end applications across all sales channels.

“Commerce marketing automation is about eliminating the disconnect between the offline and online marketing departments so that marketing messages are coordinated around the consumer’s behavior and preferences, instead of the individual sales channel,” Colopy says.

M ANY SHOPPERS BEGIN AND END THEIR SHOPPING JOURNEYS in different channels and they expect

the retailer will interact with them in a consistent manner every step of the way.

But many retailers fail to deliver on this expec-tation because they have yet to bridge the gap between their online and offline divisions. As a result, marketing efforts between the two units often are uncoordinated, which can leave a con-sumer questioning how much the retailer knows about her. For example, a consumer can be turned off by receiving an email offering a discount to buy an item left in her shopping cart that she just purchased in the merchant’s store.

Marrying customer data from online and offline channels enables retailers to identify new marketing opportunities and create campaigns that are more relevant to the consumer. It also gives retailers a better understanding of how their marketing efforts in one channel influence customer behavior in another.

For example, outdoor gear and apparel retailer Gander Mountain Co. Inc. uses the email addresses it collects in its stores to send shoppers electronic receipts. That way the merchant can identify cus-tomers that received an email promoting a specific product, such as the latest models of fishing rod and reel combinations, then went into the store to buy it.

“Being able to make that connection tells mar-keters that the email played a role in the sale and helps the retailer properly attribute credit for the sale,” says Joe Colopy, CEO of email and marketing services provider Bronto Software Inc. “If the same customer continues to buy in a store after receiving promotional emails, the retailer knows email is an effective way to drive that customer into its stores.”

Tracking a customer’s in-store purchases each time he is sent an e-receipt creates an opportunity for retailers to send a follow-up email for acces-sories. A retailer could send the customer who

Connecting the dots between online and offline marketing

JOE COLOPYCEO of email and marketing platform provider Bronto Software Inc.

bronto.com.

SPONSORED SPECIAL REPORT

P USH NOTIFICATIONS ARE BECOMING A RELIABLE WAY to engage shoppers. It’s easier to push a message to a consumer then

to pull her into responding to your ad or email. That’s why mobile push notifications can be powerful, if managed effectively.

A recent study by mobile marketing solutions pro-vider Urban Airship reveals that the median opt-in rate for mobile app users to receive push notifications from retail apps is 36%, with some apps seeing opt-in rates as high as 56%. For retail marketers that represents a huge opportunity.

Push notifications, which are messages app users receive on their smartphones or tablets even when the app is turned off, can inform consumers of events, promotions, new merchandise and other information without having to open the message to read it.

“Getting app users to opt in to push notifications is a golden opportunity for retailers to increase consumer engagement through their app,” says Bill Schneider, director of product marketing for Urban Airship. “We’ve found engagement rates are four times higher when a shopper opts in to push than if they don’t.”

Successful push notification programs start by explaining to consumers the value of the messages from the start, such as receiving exclusive offers and content. Many retailers include this information in the app description. Another option is to display information about the benefits of push notifications when the consumer first launches the app through a welcome series.

Retailers looking for ways to capture app users who don’t opt in initially can also extend an opt-in offer when an app user makes her first purchase. For example, a customer can be asked at checkout if she wants to receive push notifications when her order has shipped or is expected to be delivered. If the customer says yes, she can be led to the app’s preferences center to identify other types of messages she is interested in receiving.

“Getting consumers to opt in is all about showing them the value of push notifications,” Schneider says.

As popular as push notifications are among many consumers, simply blasting out messages will not ensure customer engagement. Messages need to be tailored to a consumer’s interests. A shopper receiving a notification when an item on her wish list goes on sale is more likely to engage with the retailer than if she received a generic marketing message about a sitewide sale.

To get tuned into consumers’ message prefer-ences, e-retailers should encourage them to go to the preference center within the app to select the

kind of messages they want to receive, fill out customer profiles and select topics of interest, such as messages about favored brands, and to indicate instances when they want to receive notifi-cations, such as when a recently viewed item is nearly sold out.

“Tailoring push notifi-cations to a customer’s interests can increase

engagement rates 30% to 50%,” Schneider says. “The more relevant consumers find the messages, the less likely they are to feel fatigue from receiving them, which increases the likelihood they will stay opted in.”

Other ways retailers can engage app users is to embed a link to a landing page or product page within a push notification to take them beyond the app’s home page—and closer to checkout. A shopper that wants to be notified about when the latest summer fashions have arrived can be pushed a link in the message that, when tapped, lets her view those items.

“The clearer retailers are about the benefits of receiving push notifications and the more targeted they make their messages, the more successful they will be driving traffic to the app,” Schneider says.

How to get more results from push marketing

BILL SCHNEIDERDirector of product marketing for Urban Airship, a mobile marketing services provider

http://www.urbanairship.com/lp/ios8-interactive-notifications-inspiration-guide?Is=Advertisement&ccn=150601IRFullPageAd

SPONSORED SPECIAL REPORT

E MAIL MARKETERS CAN NO LONGER RELY on basic list segmentation strategies if they want consumers to notice their messages.

While segmenting a list using a single customer attri-bute, such as brand preference, geographic location or cart abandonment, has proven successful at increas-ing open rates, the strategy is losing its punch as the growing deluge of email consumers receive makes it harder for messages to get noticed.

To catch a consumer’s attention in the inbox, and hold onto it, email marketers need to group the shoppers on their email lists in more granular ways using multiple data sets. For example, a furniture e-retailer is likely to generate a higher click-through rate with a message that’s tailored to consumers who have bought $1,000 or more of contemporary furniture within the last two years without using a coupon than a message that targets customers using only one of those attributes.

“Advanced segmentation can increase click-through rates fivefold because the message is much more relevant than an email created using basic segmentation,” says Andrew Pearson, vice president of marketing for Windsor Circle, a provider of customer retention software.

While retail marketers may want to create highly segmented mailing lists, some struggle with how to pull together the data needed to do it, Pearson says. A big obstacle is that the information often resides in multiple, sometimes unconnected, databases across the business. Windsor Circle’s Advanced Segment Builder uses relational database tables to simultane-ously gather information from all of a retailer’s data-bases so they can mix and match customer attributes to create highly segmented mailing lists.

Using simple drop-down menus in the Advanced Segmentation Builder, retailers can select the cus-tomer attributes they want to find—such as purchase history, color preferences and lifetime customer

value—and preview how many customers fit the criteria. Once a retailer settles on a right-sized segment, the email addresses of consumers on the list are automatically exported into a new custom

list or group within the retailer’s email application. Next, the retailer develops content tailored to the segment’s interests and sends the message out.

“Segmenting mailing lists down to this level has been tough because it either required email marketers to have a relational database pro-gram or to write custom code to simultaneously

pull specific customer attributes from multiple databases,” Pearson says. “Advanced segmentation is about simplifying data-driven marketing, which is where all marketing is heading.”

To enrich the information a retailer has about its customers, which can improve segmentation, Pearson recommends that each time a shopper makes a purchase the retailer progressively ask her a new question or two about her preferences. “This is an effective way to enhance the quality of information in a customer’s profile a little at a time,” Pearson says.

As retailers refine their segments, they can iden-tify customers to exclude from mailings promoting products or containing information unlikely to appeal to them, which can increase campaign effectiveness. “About 50% of retailers perform only basic segmen-tation and many don’t do any segmentation,” Pearson says. “Consumers respond well to email that speaks to their interests and product preferences because they don’t want to be treated the same as everyone else.”

Advanced email segmentation helps generate messages that stand out

ANDREW PEARSONVice president of marketing for Windsor Circle, a provider of customer retention software

F R E E R E T E N T I O N A N A LY T I C S

O NE Y E A Rfor

THAT’S RIGHT! WINDSOR CIRCLE IS OFFERING RETAILERS A FREE

TRIAL OF OUR RETENTION ANALY TICS SUITE f o r ONE YEAR .

SIGN A $0 CONTRACT by JUNE 30TH AND GAIN ACCESS

to OUR RETENTION ANALY TICS SUITE, AS WELL AS OUR :

Going to IRCE? SIGN UP FOR YOUR 15-MINUTE INTRO AT WWW.WINDSORCIRCLE.COM/IRDEMO

AND MAKE SURE YOU STOP BY OUR BOOTH (#1835) FOR ANOTHER SPECIAL OFFER!

Not going to IRCE? VISIT WWW.WINDSORCIRCLE.COM/INTRO TO GET STARTED WITH A 15-MINUTE

INTRODUCTION FROM A TEAM MEMBER AT WINDSOR CIRCLE.

•A d v a n c e d S e g m e n t B u i l d e r

•Th e D a i l y e Co m m e r c e M e t r i c s Em a i l

•Re t e n t i o n In s i g h t s ( C LV, AOV, L a t e n c y , e t c . )

WINDSORCIRCLE.COM |

SPONSORED SPECIAL REPORT

most recent purchase information. The retailer can then update remarketing emails to reflect the recent purchase. “Tracking online and offline customer behavior can prevent retailers from unnecessarily repeating marketing messages to shoppers and help them understand which marketing channels are driving store traffic,” Brogley says.

The more insights retailers gain into consumer preferences, the better they can align their person-

alization strategies with their business objectives. “Once we know a consumer’s preferences and shopping behaviors, we can help retailers design personalization campaigns to increase average order value or conversion rates, promote certain brands or create cross-sell and upsell opportunities,” Brogley says.

MyBuys recently merged with Magnetic, a digital ad technology company that curates keyword intent and delivers relevant advertising in real time. Together, the companies have a unique set of data and insights—Magnetic with its search and purchase intent data and MyBuys with its deep database of online and offline shopping behaviors. This unique combination helps marketers prospect, acquire, convert and reactivate customers across a variety of channels, including display, email, on-site and mobile, she says.

“Consumers expect more personalized shopping experiences regardless of where they shop and the device they use,” Brogley says. “Our combined com-pany will enable marketers to better connect with people by creating a single, comprehensive view of their purchase journey across devices, channels, and buying stages.”

M OST MIDDLE-AGE MEN SHOPPING FOR CLOTHES in a retail store do not want to be shown brands or styles

the salesperson would show to a man in his 20s. The same concept applies to e-commerce. Online shoppers expect retailers to recommend products and present offers that appeal to their tastes, even if they are visiting a retailer’s website for the first time.

“The key to understanding consumer preferences is data, but not just big data, the right data,” says Rita Brogley, president and CEO of MyBuys Inc., a provider of personalization solutions. “How a con-sumer browses online, the in-store purchases he makes, how he responds to email or display ads—each element provides insights into how to interact with him in a personalized way.”

MyBuys provides insights into consumer prefer-ences through a database of more than 250 million consumers. When an online shopper visits a retailer’s website and is recognized by MyBuys through a tracking cookie attached to his browser, his profile is accessed to recommend products or brands. If the shopper has erased tracking cookies from his device’s browser, MyBuys can attach his profile to a new cookie when he provides his email address at checkout. MyBuys matches the email address provided with the one in its database.

Tracking consumer behavior in all sales channels can help multichannel retailers avoid marketing mistakes. For example, a consumer who opens an email for a navy blazer and then buys the blazer at the retailer’s store does not want to receive an email recommending the same blazer or see it recommended the next time he visits the retailer’s website. Instead, the retailer can recommend a shirt and tie that goes with the blazer he just bought.

Capturing a consumer’s email address when he makes a purchase in a store allows the retailer to identify him by cross-matching his address in the MyBuys database. Once the shopper is identified, MyBuys updates the customer’s profile with the

Data helps recommendations get personal

RITA BROGLEYPresident and CEO of MyBuys Inc., a provider of personalization solutions

http://www.mybuys.com/?utm_source=banner&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=irspecialreport

SPONSORED SPECIAL REPORT

Connectivity to front- and back-end applications across all channels is a feature Anderson recommends retailers include in a new platform. “Consumers expect multichannel retailers to let them buy online and pick items up in a store, check in-store inventory and return items bought online in-store,” Anderson says. “To enable these omni-channel experiences retailers need to connect their

customer-facing and back-end applications across all sales chan-nels. E-commerce and the bricks-and-mortar stores are no longer separate entities.”

While replatforming can give retailers the array of features they need to satisfy customers, there are times when their bud-gets may only support minor upgrades. Even

so, if done right, little fixes can have a big impact on the customer experience and a retailer’s business.

A/B testing is an effective way to determine the impact minor modifications can have. For example, after learning that customers opting into its email list have the highest conversion rates, one Americaneagle.com client conducted tests to deter-mine the best location for the email opt-in button on each of its pages to increase the number of custom-ers signing up. One of the variations it tested involved moving the social icons away from the Join Now but-ton so it had better visibility. The changes increased email sign-ups more than fivefold.

“Even one-tenth of a percent of an increase in conversion rates can have a substantial impact on the bottom line,” Anderson says. “Whether replatforming or modifying their website, retailers need to consider how best to create the optimal customer experience so they can grow their business.”

E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS HAVE LIMITED LIFE SPANS, which means many retailers face the prospect of replatforming

sooner than they might have expected. That process can be a daunting, expensive task—and one that can make or break their business.

To find the right fit for their business, retailers should prepare a checklist of the features and functions they need to meet consumers’ evolving expectations now and in the future. “The e-commerce platform is a deeply integrated, multichannel technology, not just an order intake platform,” says Christina Anderson, an e-commerce consultant for site design firm Americaneagle.com.

A platform that supports responsive design should be at the top of any retailer’s list of features in a new platform. Consumers increasingly use a variety of devices to access retailers’ websites, and responsive design eliminates the need to maintain separate mobile and desktop sites by formatting a single site to the device the consumer is using. This capability creates a seamless customer experience across devices, without requiring retailers to build sites specific to each device.

“Being able to support responsive design is a big reason many retailers are looking to replat-form,” Anderson says. “So too is Google’s recent mobile update, which gives preference to mobile-friendly sites when searching from mobile devices. Websites can no longer be designed only for desktops or laptops.”

The inclusion of a content management system that allows retailers to add, edit and delete website content through a user-friendly dashboard is another necessity. One benefit of a content management system native to an e-commerce platform is that retailers can instantly make changes to their websites, such as adding a product or promotion, without having to rely on the IT department to write programming code, which can take days or weeks. In addition, retailers can log into the content manage-ment system outside the office.

Getting replatforming right

CHRISTINA ANDERSONE-commerce consultant for site design firm Americaneagle.com

http://www.americaneagle.com/