Data is mounting that suggests ecommerce is quickly establishing itself as a cornerstone of the broader retail market. Merchants looking to maximize their brand's reach need to own and operate a retail website.

However, simply owning a website isn't enough anymore. Online shoppers have been buying things through the web for a while now and they have little patience for obtuse and outdated websites. If an ecommerce site is difficult to use or feels antiquated, they will likely continue shopping elsewhere.

Fortunately, designing a compelling retail website doesn't take hundreds of thousands of dollars (although it certainly can, if merchants want something cutting-edge). Cactus Commerce recently offered some advice to help merchants enhance the usability of their websites. The key is looking at how customers view a website and designing it based on how they would use it.

"Natural eye movement goes from the upper left to the lower right corner of the screen. The upper right and bottom left areas typically receive less attention unless they include graphical elements that will attract the eye," the news source notes. "Take advantage of this pattern to help guide your visitors into your site: follow web conventions and display your logo in the top left corner; put your navigation across the top, clearly defined and organized."

Another stumbling point is consistency. As people browse websites, they look for an easy-to-understand structure – margins, aligned elements and uniform elements are important to achieving an intuitive ecommerce site. For example, if your front page features multiple items, they should all be the same size and arranged in a grid-like pattern. Misaligned images of various sizes catch consumers' eyes, but also distract them from other parts of the webpage, such as the "check-out" button.

Color selection is likewise a crucial consideration. Studies have shown that consumers frequently identify brands by color. But that doesn't necessarily mean websites should be all the same hue. Rather, color should be used to draw attention to specific parts of the site – for example, a red "buy now" button would stand out on an otherwise white or grey website.

"Being smart doesn’t mean spending tons of money on redesigning every element of your site. Instead, retailers are finding that consistent, incremental improvements help to significantly improve site performance," Cactus Commerce concludes.

According to Forrester Research, ecommerce will generate more than $320 billion worth of sales in 2016 and account for approximately 10 percent of the retail revenues. Merchants need to be prepared and create an easy-to-use ecommerce website.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Tuesday, March 6th, 2012 at 10:46 am .

Daily deals sites such as Groupon have been the subject of much controversy in the retail segment. While most merchants have noted that they can gain a significant influx of new shoppers by launching daily deal promotions, others have been quick to point out an adverse effect in store operations: The heavy discounts hurt profits.

New research from ForeSee suggests these one-time deals can be beneficial in the long-term scheme of things. Approximately half of shoppers who use daily deals said they have returned to the retailers that offered these promotions, while another 47 percent plan to do so in the future. The survey results are based on the response of more than 10,000 consumers.

Meanwhile, four in 10 consumers who took advantage of daily deals are already fans of the merchant offering the promotion, whereas 26 percent were infrequent shoppers and 29 percent had never heard of the brand. This challenges the notion that daily deals are ideal for generating new customers, and in fact they seem to be just as effectively used for instilling feelings of loyalty.

"Businesses that use these sites effectively are growing their customer base and customers are getting a deal, which results in a win for everyone. The challenge is for businesses to use this tool in smart ways and to work with daily deal sites who can deliver a good experience to users and merchants alike," explained Larry Freed, the president and CEO of ForeSee.

When offering daily deals, there are two market leaders – Groupon and LivingSocial. Combined, these two sites account for approximately 80 percent of the deals market. Fifty-two percent of customers surveyed subscribe to Groupon, while 30 percent opted for LivingSocial. Groupon's market share was up 1 percent, while LivingSocial's grew from 24 percent.

More recently, half the respondents had bought a Groupon voucher in the last 90 days, marking a 6.4 percent improvement from last year. Meanwhile, one-quarter of survey takers purchased a LivingSocial deal, up 13.6 percent from 2011. Despite this growth, the number of consumers subscribed to daily deal sites declined from 65 percent to 60 percent, suggesting that Groupon and LivingSocial are forcing their competitors out of the market.

Marketing is only one part of successfully managing a retail brand. Maximizing store operations requires a mix of advertising, customer service and business know-how.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Monday, March 5th, 2012 at 11:40 am .

Warm weather, improved consumer confidence and the Valentine's Day holiday combined to form a perfect storm for apparel retailers, many of which topped Wall Street estimates for the month of February, Retailing Today reports.

The Thomson Reuters Same Store Sales Index – which analyzes 21 different companies – is expected to hit 4.8 percent for February when the report is released. This would beat last year's index reading by 0.8 percent. The big winners include Limited Brands, Gap and Zumiez, all of which exceeded or met the 4 percent average.

On the other end of the spectrum, "Wet Seal same-store sales fell 5.8 percent, but still beat Wall Street expectations of a 9 percent decline," the news source added.

Going into 2012, retailers expected big apparel sales, although the primary buyer isn't the traditional target audience of many of these companies. Men are expected to drive retail apparel this year, a recent IBM report found.

"The forecast of men's apparel sales reflects a growing trend: men are definitely developing a taste for fashion – especially in business attire," Jill Puleri, global retail leader for IBM Global Business Services, explains.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Monday, March 5th, 2012 at 11:39 am .

Retail experiences are quickly converging. No longer are customers shopping exclusively through one channel – customers may check out a physical store only to end up buying a product online, or vice versa. Web-enabled mobile devices add yet another angle to the mix. Retailers need to mix up their approach to maximize their sales.

As recent data from Forrester Research suggests, various retail channels are increasingly affecting other sales avenues. The percentage of web-influenced retail sales are expected to hit 53 percent by 2014 – a time when the web will account for $1.4 billion worth of sales made in physical retail locations.

Traditional retailers need to rethink how they are engaging consumers. It's important to realize that someone could be coming to a store because of a promotion they saw through the web. More than 200 million Americans have access to the internet, according to data from comScore, and this is a huge audience of potential customers for merchants to tap into.

Retail software can be leveraged to help merchants better capitalize on this untapped audience of prospective sales.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Friday, March 2nd, 2012 at 10:43 am .

Whether retailers are located in the United States or elsewhere in the world, technology can be used to augment their current operations and help them advance in today’s marketplace. Retail Pro International and Philip Toledo Limited, Retail Pro’s UAE partner, recently held an event at the Atlantis Hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates to bring together Retail Pro customers and professionals,  highlight the impact that Retail Pro software can have on retail operations in the Middle East and share news on many exciting changes being made to suit customers in the region.

Retail organizations, representing both customers and channel partners, from more than a dozen different countries, including Holland, Italy, Malta, Egypt, Singapore, Lebanon and India attended the two-day conference. Customers and channel partners united for the event, which addressed key questions from both ends of the spectrum. In addition to presentations on strategic direction that Retail Pro is taking and product training sessions, conference guests had a chance to network, learn about new technologies and products, as well as get an insight into matters specific to the region.

Further highlighting the commitment of Retail Pro to the region, CEO Kerry Lemos attended the event and delivered the keynote speech. His talk highlighted the importance of observing trends in the world market and the company's vow to provide world-class service in the region. Retail Pro's latest retail management software – Retail Pro Prism – was also unveiled for the first time to local customers.

"Retail Pro continues to invest heavily into the Middle East retail experience, strengthening our presence in the region as we aid our local partners and clients," Lemos asserted.

The point-of-sale software solutions provider continues to pick up new business partners in neighboring areas to ensure customers have access to the best customer service, and this effort has been enhanced by a new dedicated team based out of Dubai that is overseeing regional operations, led by region’s director Bevin Manian. The end goal is to provide customers with experts that can give the advice local retailers need to get a leg up on the competition.

"Having our business partners from all the Middle East countries and most of the subcontinent and Southeast Asia regions come together strengthens our belief in the Retail Pro community," Manian added. "We have been able to harness potential and cross pollinate valuable know-how between partners, thus making a regional event such as this critical for our success."

Retail Pro and Retail Pro Prism were not the only retail technology solutions at the event. The 150 guests at the conference also had a chance to learn more about other software products from Retail Pro’s alliance partners that operate on the robust foundation of Retail Pro software and give retailers specialized tools, including those for workforce management, footfall tracking, business analytics, tax refund for retail customers, mobile commerce, gift card and integrated payment solutions. Retail Pro continues to provide it’s retailers and channel partners all over the globe with a cohesive retail ecosystem that fosters shared success.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Thursday, March 1st, 2012 at 10:21 am .

A new report from Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project suggests 46 percent of American adults owned smartphones as of February 2012, lending further credence to recent research from Nielsen that made a similar observation.

Given the sheer number of people who own these devices, retailers need to incorporate smartphones into their store operations when possible. Tom Nawara, vice president of digital strategy and design at online marketing firm Acquity Group, told Internet Retailer that mobile adoption should no longer be a question of "if." Rather, it is one of "when."

"For several years we’ve been saying it's 'the year of mobile.' It is time to put that phrase away and understand that mobile is here to stay and simply one part of an overall omni-channel strategy retailers need to embrace," Nawara explained. "… The question for retailers can no longer be, 'Should we include mobile in our mix?' It has to be, 'How do we most effectively build mobile experiences into our omni-channel plans?'"

Walgreens recently began leveraging phones as coupon distributors. When users check in to a store, a coupon or discount will be delivered straight to their phone.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Thursday, March 1st, 2012 at 9:23 am .

The value of retail properties is on the rise as the sector continues to grow, according to a new report from Marcus & Millchap, Savills U.S. and Colliers International.

Retail sales now exceed pre-recession figures, which has led to performance improvements in the retail property sector. Low interest rates and attractive returns are expected to keep transaction velocity on the upswing. Favorable conditions will drive owners to list more assets, the report adds.

"Marginal improvements in second half of 2011 leave most cautiously optimistic about 2012," associate Gerry Mason said in the Savills report, although he added that "slow recovery is expected as most companies will look to improve balance sheets and strengthen core portfolios."

Grocery-anchored and outlet centers are leading activity. However, most movement will be driven by the companies that can innovate and offer new shopping experiences.

Brick and mortar stores are expected to be the corner stone of the retail shopping experience for a number of years to come. As a recent report from Forrester Research suggests, ecommerce currently accounts for less than 10 percent of total retail sales.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Thursday, March 1st, 2012 at 2:32 am .

One of the easiest ways retail brands can lose customers is by making them wait forever during the shopping process. Whether they are waiting in line to make a purchase or are dealing with customer service, there are a number of ways to reduce hold times, Multichannel Merchant reports.

First, retailers should consider giving their employees more power. While management should be involved with any big decision, forcing customers to wait because employees need a trivial override is inefficient.

Second, merchants should develop a knowledge base that can be easily accessed by employees. This will reduce time spent waiting for managers to answer common or basic questions.

Finally, the source suggests retailers should "have zero tolerance for agents who put customers on hold so they can chitchat with their neighbors."

Many customers feel they already spend too long during the point-of-sale checkout process. By streamlining operations and making it quicker, retail brands are better able to keep their shoppers happy and encourage future visits.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Thursday, March 1st, 2012 at 2:30 am .

Further fueling retailer concerns, a new report from ClickIQ suggests approximately half of consumers who have shopped online in the past six months first went to brick-and-mortar stores to check out the product for themselves.

The study found that 67 percent of consumers have shopped online recently. Nearly half – 46 percent – of this group said they had gone to physical stores and used them as a "show room" to check out a product before making the purchase on the web later.

Walmart was the biggest victim, with 41 percent of these window shoppers heading to the retail chain's physical stores before buying online. Conversely, Amazon was the biggest gainer – 48 percent ended up making their final purchase on the etailer's website. A scant 15 percent ended up buying the product from Walmart.

"When asked the drivers behind their decision to make the purchase online, the dominate reason was price at 87 percent," Retailing Today notes, citing the ClickIQ report.

Retail merchants may be able to combat this behavior by adopting aggressive price-matching policies that encourage consumers to make purchases in-store instead of online.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Thursday, March 1st, 2012 at 2:29 am .

Consumers are increasingly opening new credit card accounts, which may suggest they are preparing to spend more money at retail.

The number of new cards issued in 2011 hit 42.3 million, marking a 14 percent increase from the previous year, a new report from TransUnion suggests. Approximately one-quarter of those cards, or 10.7 million, were given to Americans with poor credit histories.

Lending standards have tightened considerably, but the improvement of the U.S. economy is encouraging many consumers to apply for new credit cards. The better job outlook is also contributing to demand for new credit card accounts.

"Another factor helping make credit more available is that the rate of late payments has fallen dramatically in the past two years. Just 0.78 percent of card holders were late with payments by 90 days or more during the fourth quarter," Silicon Valley Mercury News notes, citing the report.

While mobile payments generated all the buzz last year, this further highlights the importance of having a point-of-sale system that can process credit cards.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Thursday, March 1st, 2012 at 2:27 am .