Retail

As Valentine’s Day and the season of love quickly approaches, stores are eagerly stocking their post-holiday shelves with chocolate hearts and Hallmark cards, while consumers scout out the perfect forget-me-not gifts for their loved ones.

The use of technology has significantly changed shopping habits, as consumers today no longer need to visit a store to make their purchase; now they can use tools such as, laptops, tablets and smart phones to order everything they desire, all with a click of a button. However, as digital interactions become more common, retailers must be creative when it comes to merging the gap between in-store and online purchases. Although change can be terrifying, with this new age brings new opportunities, which every smart retailer must take advantage of in order to remain competitive.

With summer quickly coming to a close, retailers are eyeing their warehouses expectantly in preparation for the back to school shopping rush, which is widely considered one of retail’s busiest seasons. And thanks to e-commerce, back-to-school shoppers can now do all of their shopping from the comfort of their own homes, avoiding the hassle of fighting department store crowds for this year’s coolest, must-have items. With a few slides and clicks on a smartphone, shoppers can now expect to receive an item at their doorstep the next day – or in some cases, in just a few hours. As evidence of the colossal growth of online shopping in recent years, retail giant Walmart recently acquired Jet.com, one of the fastest growing and most innovative e-commerce companies in the U.S, to expand its e-commerce operations.

The height of the holiday shopping season has arrived and, according to the National Retail Federation, an estimated 135.8 Million shoppers will be making purchases online and in stores. As shoppers are busy purchasing gifts, it’s the responsibility of the retailer to protect its shoppers from any security breaches. As a retailer, have you stopped to wonder how safe and secure your technology infrastructure is to prevent such attacks from occurring?

The Holiday season is amongst us, and with that brings the holiday shopping rush. This is the time of year when retailers enjoy significant revenues, but the holiday season can also bring challenges for retailers without a proper inventory management solution in place. It is estimated that 87 million people will be shopping during this holiday season. With that kind of demand for goods, it is imperative that retailers properly prepare and manage their inventory, with up to 40% of retailers’ annual sales occurring during the holiday season. (Source: National Retail Federation, derived from Bureau of Labor Statistics data). Along with in-house shoppers, retailers are experiencing a sizable increase to their e-commerce sales as well.

It’s back to school time for the favorite people in your life. Can you remember your first day of school? Elementary was the year of leaving home, high school the year of learning where you fit in and college, the year that paved the way for future success. Every year we send our younger generation off to bigger and better things without any hiccups.