When thinking of ecommerce and mcommerce, many retail industry professionals may immediately imagine millennials and Generation X as the channels' top users. As these two groups were born into a world heavily invested in technology, it makes sense that they would use it while shopping. But eMarketer recently revealed that baby boomers are also an important demographic for online sales. 

Among the generation, nearly nine out of 10 consider themselves tech-savvy and have also purchased an item through the Web. According to a McAfee study, most of these consumers spend about 5 hours online per day, only one hour less than individuals age 10 to 23. Additionally, 97 percent of boomers use the Internet daily and 80 percent of them are members of social networks. 

Emarketer also noted that eight in 10 baby boomers engage in Internet-based banking and pay their bills online. Despite perceptions to the contrary, baby boomers are highly connected and can be reached across multiple channels. 

Connected, but still traditional in tech use
While baby boomers will buy products online, their device preferences still skew toward traditional methods. The generation spends most of their time on the Web through desktops (73 percent) and laptops (58 percent), while they access digital content through their smartphones (28 percent) and tablets (22 percent) much less. However, most consumers still don't own tablets and many have not purchased a smartphone. Ownership among all demographics is on the rise, though. So while the technology has not yet filtered to the majority of boomers, this may change as overall adoption of the devices increases. 

With consumers of all ages turning to the Internet for their purchases, merchants should deploy robust ecommerce software solutions that cater to a mostly untapped market. Ecommerce still makes up only a small percentage of total online sales, so retailers should only expect further growth in the coming years, and they should not discount any age group as they try to reach a larger consumer base.

Merchants should also recognize that the industry is becoming increasingly omnichannel and adapt accordingly. As more people grow accustomed to financial transactions online, which many boomers already are, retailers should have key delivery options, inventory management and other strategies in place that work within the Web-based sales environment. Promotions directed through social media also have a high chance of reaching all consumers. These should factor into ongoing strategies. 

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Wednesday, November 6th, 2013 at 5:32 am .

As the major holiday shopping season approaches, many consumers are hitting retail stores early to find the best deals available. As more customers pour in through their doors, merchants will need to scale up their store operations and run powerful retail software that creates a convenient shopping experience. 

One key fact retailers should include in their plans for November and December is that their customers will be more informed than ever. According to SGK Inc's 2013 Early Holiday Shopper Survey, more than half of pre-October holiday buyers used their mobile devices for product research, and many ran price comparisons before purchasing an item. Rather than avoiding the crowds, many early shoppers will also be in stores on Black Friday, and they will have consulted inserts and circulars, websites, emails and their friends and family to find the best deal before stepping into a shop. Many will also request price matching, the survey found. 

"By starting early, spreading purchases over a wider time frame, using layaway and actively researching, shoppers are more likely to find the right offers for them," Jim Lucas, executive vice president, global insights at SGK, according to the report. 

Retailers should also take note that customers who research items on their mobile devices are likely to spend more than other consumers. Those merchants able to adapt to better informed shoppers could benefit from increased sales in the next couple of months. 

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Tuesday, November 5th, 2013 at 5:00 am .

Smartphones and tablets have become regular shopping devices for consumers, allowing them to research products or, at times, even process payments through apps or mobile wallets. However, some retail industry professionals are also using the technology to improve their store operations. 

Retail Solutions Online detailed many of the advantages to deploying a mobile point of sale solution. Some of the benefits will be helpful during the holiday shopping season, but their benefits extend well past Black Friday and the days after. The source highlighted that this POS platform can enhance the overall shopping experience by speeding up the pace of transactions and dealing with the long lines that many businesses endure throughout November and December. 

By deploying a mobile POS system, merchants can also clear out some of the floor space devoted to shopping lanes mostly intended for peak shopping periods. This in turn can be used to display more products. 

As smartphones and tablets grow in popularity, many staff members will also need less training in their use, as they will already be acquainted with the technology. This could help onboard the large volume of temporary employees hired during the holiday season. 

The mobile nature of tablets and smartphones can also enable workers to assist customers on the storeroom floor, rather than limiting interactions to the checkout area. This increases employee' productivity as well as the shopping experience. 

Take mobile POS step-by-step
Retail Solutions Online highlighted one problem that some organizations are running into with their mobile POS, and that is that many companies are "paralyzed" from trying to fully deploy smartphone- and tablet-based technology into their operations. Rather than trying to create a comprehensive solution that covers all aspects of the business, decision-makers can focus their efforts on using the devices for one part of the business, and then another, as they slowly build up to a more comprehensive platform. 

The additional efficiency afforded by smartphone- and tablet-based POS, though, makes the move a hard one to ignore. The cost savings, floor space and mobility of the workforce can benefit retailers, and likely create an uptick in productivity. Gradually implementing a few parts of this process into the holiday season may help streamline the shopping experience and, come next year, make an even better, more productive use of time for staff members and customers alike. 

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Tuesday, November 5th, 2013 at 4:59 am .

Great customer service, along with a swift and smooth workflow, requires best in class retail software that can meet the demands of businesses and consumers alike. Retail Pro Prism gives merchants with a versatile platform that can be tailored to the individual needs of their enterprise while streamlining store operations. The system's customer and employee management tools, as well as point of sale capabilities, provide controls for all levels of a chain. 

Retail Pro Prism also offers seamless integration at the point of sale between mobile and desktop options, to reflect the modern marketplace. Retail industry professionals interested in the solution can attend the webinar scheduled for Thursday, November 7 between 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. PDT. Registration information can be found at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/285623402.

Ket Venethongkham, Director of Retail Pro University, and James McGibbon, a Trainer at Retail Pro University, will lead participants through Retail Pro Prism's many features, such as its customizable options for printed documents, centralized return and exchange verification processing and enhanced customer management abilities. The pair will highlight the system's flexibility and how merchants can leverage the technology regardless of their retail specialization. 

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Monday, November 4th, 2013 at 4:26 pm .

With the holiday shopping season just around the corner, retail industry professionals are ramping up their plans to best serve their customers. For many merchants, this means hiring additional staff, offering substantial discounts and providing free shipping throughout the next two months. 

Although free shipping and discounts are two of the perks most desired by consumers, they are only the second and third most important considerations for the average shopper, according to a recent survey from PriceGrabber.com. Based on the poll, 70 percent of respondents value good customer service above all else, and it can help ensure their loyalty for future purchases. 

While achieving good customer service can be harder to accomplish than applying free shipping and discounts, there are a few steps that merchants can take to reach that goal. Having enough staff on the floor can improve store operations immensely, but eliminating long lines with capable point of sale software can also reduce a significant amount of shoppers' stress. Complementing this primarily brick-and-mortar tactic with free shipping can assist retailers in appealing to the widest variety of consumers this holiday shopping season. 

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Monday, November 4th, 2013 at 3:40 am .

Returned items are a problem for most retailers, but they are even more complicated for ecommerce merchants. Effective ecommerce software can eliminate some of the difficulties related to entering the item back into the system, but the whole process of having a product shipped back and received can feel arduous. Yet many customers expect the option, particularly for segments like apparel. An garment might not fit, or the consumer may not like how it looks once worn. 

Clothing retailers Henri Lloyd and Fits.me both experienced problems with clothing returns, according to Internet Retailing. Once they added a virtual fitting room, however, the problem decreased considerably. This feature allows shoppers to see how the clothes will fit based on the measurements entered into the system. Fits.me reported that since adding this capability to its website, its return rate dropped from 15.3 percent to 4.5 percent. 

Fits.me added that it was able to notice the decline because of its point of sale system, which could cross-reference returns with the original purchase. The more information merchants have available to them, the better they can understand the effects of their decisions on their operations. 

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Friday, November 1st, 2013 at 9:37 am .

If there is any indication that the point of sale is the most important part of ecommerce, it is the fact that 67.44 percent of online shopping carts are abandoned, according to Baymard Institute. Customers will browse, pick items and then fall just shy of checking out. 

There are a number of reasons this happens. Sometimes, it might be as simple as the shopper adding a product by accident. But many times, customers may question whether they want an item or have questions that are not easily answered while they are browsing. 

Whatever their reasons, online retailer Land of Nod was able to increase its cart recovery rate by 22 percent by delivering custom messages to consumers, Retail Touch Points reported. When a cart is abandoned, Land of Nod immediately sends customers an email reminding them about one of the items in their cart. Should this not prompt the shopper to buy the item, the merchant follows up 24 hours later, and then again in a week with an offer of free shipping.

This strategy overcame the company's problem with emailing customers up to a week after a cart was abandoned, after shoppers may have forgotten about the item or already changed their mind and bought it. By tailoring messages to what consumers are shopping for, and in a timely manner, online retailers can improve their ecommerce initiatives. 

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Friday, November 1st, 2013 at 4:02 am .

For many retailers, Cyber Monday represents one of the most significant sales days during the year, particularly for ecommerce sites. According to a study from RSA and the Ponemon Institute, the average amount of online retail revenue rises 55 percent on the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday. The increase in customer traffic can potentially cause performance issues, but as long as capable ecommerce software and server preparations have been made, merchants can facilitate a stress-free shopping experience.

However, retail industry professionals should be aware of one problem associated with Cyber Monday: cyberattacks. The Ponemon and RSA study noted that the holiday shopping date invites malicious parties to assault ecommerce sites. Even as merchants experience unprecedented online sales, they may also be losing as much as $8,000 per minute due to hackers. As customer churn and brand damage are both potential risks when services go offline, the study suggested that larger retailers might lose up to $3.4 million from an hour-long disruption. 

Minimizing damage
Because of this issue, retailers should ensure that all levels of their online operations are prepared for cyberattacks before Cyber Monday's arrival. Just as measures should be in place to handle the increased volume of Web traffic on that date, similar protections should exist for hacking attempts. 

"Forward-thinking organizations that have the agility to break from the status quo and embrace innovation can not only better protect their business, but also gain a massive advantage," said Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of The Ponemon Institute. "Reducing losses from fraud and increasing trust in the brand can propel a business ahead of its competitors."

The study highlighted that tracking and understanding Web traffic can let retailers recognize the source of an attack and react appropriately. As is, only 23 percent of IT retail staff respondents to the study felt that they were adequately prepared to quickly detect and react to disruptions. In many instances, these incidents involve distributed denial of service attempts, app store fraud, eCoupon abuse, account hijacking and other types of hacking. Some of these can be avoided with a secure point of sale system, but others require working with IT and web masters to ensure everything runs smoothly on the most intensive day for online shopping. With Cyber Monday taking place in December this year, merchants still have time to prepare their systems before the sales date. 

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Thursday, October 31st, 2013 at 11:52 am .

Integrating mobile payments into the point of sale still has not been prioritized by many retailers. Scanning QR codes, connecting with NFC-capable devices and even Bluetooth technology can add further complication to completing a transaction, even if the necessary systems are in place to accept purchases from smartphones. Until the innovation becomes as easy as swiping a card, the adoption rate may remain low among consumers, but accepting the method could be important for merchants. 

According to a recent study from TNS Global, U.K. shoppers who employ contactless payments and smartphone apps on average spend more per transaction (£24) than customers using cash (£17). The total number of consumers buying products with these methods represents less than 10 percent of the typical monthly purchasing methods, but as mobile devices continue rising in popularity and utility, this may change. 

Ecommerce shows a similar pattern, as mobile banking transactions are little used by most U.K. shoppers, but they also drive higher sales per transaction (£104) than debit cards (£52). Emarketer suggested that this may be due to mobile payments striking a balance of convenience between cash and credit or debit cards, which remains a key motivator for how people buy products and services. 

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Thursday, October 31st, 2013 at 8:17 am .

Coupons are a staple of the retail industry and have remained so no matter how often the shopping experience has evolved. They can help drive sales and encourage shopper loyalty while providing businesses with important data. When placed online, promotional codes help indicate the effectiveness of advertising or other marketing efforts. They are not without their problems, since physical coupons can slow down lines at the point of sale when staff members must scan barcodes or enter other details, but recent innovations have streamlined this process. Namely, digital coupons can quickly be moved through and scanned. 

As ecommerce and mcommerce gain more widespread acceptance, it comes as no surprise that electronic coupon use has also risen. According to eMarketer, digital coupons are being used by the majority (52 percent) of adult United States Internet users for the first time. This represents a total of 102.5 million consumers, and is an 11 percent increase from 2012. 

Since eMarketer anticipates the percentage of digital coupon users to rise thanks to growing mobile device ownership, merchants should expect to process more smartphone-based discounts at the POS. Deploying versatile retail software that can meet this demand will help improve customers' shopping experiences and avoid backed up lines. 

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Wednesday, October 30th, 2013 at 5:17 am .