WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

WHY IT MATTERS: everything in this article rings true, from the high cost of omnichannel and especially returns, to the opportunities that remain of having a physical store. The conclusion: you have to change processes, resource allocation and technology to make omnichannel work.

WHY IT MATTERS: warning! this article is not about your typical "robots will rule retail" or "everything has to be AI driven unless you die". Well, in some parts it is.

The reality check that retailers - and their technology vendors - must make is: retail is difficult, focused on the bottom line, with no appetite for innovation with short term results. Retail innovators must find a way to experiment while staying focussed on the bottom line.

Best quote: "‘I think the majority of the problems come from the unwillingness, perhaps the fear, of investing in something that
doesn’t automatically bring a load of cash onto your balance sheet."

WHY IT MATTERS: free delivery appears to be a myth based on this analysis from parcelLabs. And in-store pickup is the most popular option. Is this because customers really prefer to pay for delivery or go to the store? - or because the pick-pack-delivery-return costs are too high and as they come down with economies of scale, customers will naturally pick the free delivery option, as they do with Amazon?

WHY IT MATTERS: almost half of all clothes sold in the US are sold online, and more than one third of those are sold on Amazon. The impact of eCommerce and marketplace on retail is real and mainstream.

WHY IT MATTERS: mirakl has analyzed 50K sellers with 60M+ SKUs and released the first marketplace index. Some useful data nuggets in there.

WHY IT MATTERS: no one knows how stores will change but this eBook brings some interesting store concept and retailTech examples. Don't expect too much from the title though...

WHY IT MATTERS: eCommerce is starting to specialize, showing the limitations of Amazon a-to-z "the everything store". As raised in this short post, the specialization comes from the pick-pack-delivery side of eCommerce - logistics - as shoes, furniture and pizza can all be sold on the same website - say Amazon or Shopify - but require vastly different logistics to fulfill the order. We will see technologies appears to answer those special needs in the future.

With Le Panier Bleu we recognized that limitations of eCommerce for small retailers often are related to the high cost of delivery by mail (poste canada, UPS or other) and that a marketplace solution must address those concerns. This post just provides insights into one aspect of this.

WHY IT MATTERS: not a big fan of surveys like this one but jump to the 10 recommendations for marketplace sellers for useful tips. 

WHY IT MATTERS: this short intro on selling in Amazon marketplace highlights a key concern for small retailers: customers are aggregating on marketplaces (Amazon being the largest for now) and you need to be able to dynamically decide what you sell, where, for how much and consolidate all the orders in a single. Where better than your existing ecommerce website - magento, shopify, hybris or other? Used to be this was done on your ERP (for large retailers) or POS (for single shop owners) or PIMs and OMS for those with more mature eCommerce architectures. Now it looks like you'll do everything to centralize in the Ecommerce store.

WHY IT MATTERS: je mets mon commentaire en français parce qu'il s'adresse spécifiquement aux amis du panier bleu. L'article de Ben Evans soulève une question importante et fait la démonstration que non, Amazon ne sait pas. Et que pour Amazon, pour l'instant, peu importe. Mais pour le panier bleu et sa place de marché, le marchandisage et la curation de contenu sera importante. Essentielle même. Et qu'elle sera peut-être le différentiateur et la clé du succès. Le panier bleu ne gagnera pas en créant une place de marché mais en réglant les enjeux des commerçants (coûts élevé des cartes de crédit, logistique, livraison, retours et publicité) et en offrant aux consommateurs une destination pour trouver des commerces et des produits québécois. 

En gros, il faut régler les problèmes du commerce de détail, et la technologie ne résoudra pas tous les problèmes à court terme...

WHY IT MATTERS: retail stores must evolve to deliver value in an omnichannel world. Here's BCG's take on key experiences that stores must provide now that the transactional part is taken care of by eCommerce. This has implications in store design, branding, and of course technology.

WHY IT MATTERS: makes sense, turn your store into a broadcast studio and use your personnel to liveStreamShop to clients on the web and serve customers that drop in locally. The store reclaims a purpose, from a mini-warehouse to a service destination and broadcast center. This will require high bandwith, wifi or 5G and clienteling tools for vendors to answer client's questions about products, service or their orders. Fun times ahead.

WHY IT MATTERS: very interesting DOs and DONTs about dynamic pricing. I see few retailers yet doing this at scale but with the growth of eCommerce one can expect this to become table stakes in few years. The operational requirements may be daunting if not done properly, so beware. A few good links in there but especially this one: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/how-retailers-can-drive-profitable-growth-through-dynamic-pricing

WHY IT MATTERS: eCommerce growth side effect is the need for distribution centers. This report highlights the expected growth in coming years along with land and labour issues that will arise as most orders will be hand picked - as opposed to more automated pallet pick in distribution centers.

WHY IT MATTERS: this short post is full of interesting charts including this one. It raises one important question: increased covid shutdown measures may have pushed eCom to become half of retail in UK (excl. grocery), does this mean the same for Quebec (which is a smaller market, much behind in eCom adoption than UK and US and possible Canada)?

Moreover the stats also indicate that covid has increased eCom adoption only by 2-3 quarters, not years as previously reported.

WHY IT MATTERS: Prime has 200M members worldwide, 143M in USA. Interesting to see what people use it for - but the survey hides an important fact: the real value of PRIME for Amazon.

I wrote about the value of PRIME in the past but this increase warrants a review of previous numbers. Back in 2016 when "only" 48M members, this report valued PRIME at 143B$.

www.vox.com/2016/10/5/13175272/amazon-prime-valuation-worth-143-billion-cowen-report

Also more here: blog.fmcs.digital/?q=amazon+prime

WHY IT MATTERS: interesting to see that pick-pack-delivery providers are in the best position to monetize their direct customer relations, like banks & shopping malls before eCommerce. 

WHY IT MATTERS: click-n-collect will remain a reality for some products because delivery fees are just TOO HIGH. We need a low cost delivery solution for eCommerce, or well designed pickup areas in all stores.

WHY IT MATTERS: with the explosion of marketplaces, eCommerce will become a battle for the product search starting point. Used to be that you went to Google first for everything. But in recent years, searching for products often meant you started your search on Amazon, not Google - as evidenced by the growth in Amazon traffic and ads. Big problem for Google. 

Google shopping is their answer and this microsite that highlights the best products per categories is trying to do for product search what Google had done for website searches in 2000: aggregate the interest of millions to reference eCommerce websites everywhere - and mostly away from Amazon. 

After years of not doing anything, we now see Google taking eCommerce seriously.

WHY IT MATTERS: the scores and the ranking is not important. This list is meaningful because it shows just how broad and deep the automation has become in retail stores. Expect to see a lot of those in your local shopping destination.

WHY IT MATTERS: no surprise, eCommerce is popular here as everywhere. The data is useful to see what people buy when travel and shows are not an option (ie. covid ;-):  they usually skew the average transaction up quite a bit.

WHY IT MATTERS: livestreaming - or live shopping - is very popular in Asia and has seen sharp rise during covid shutdown. I assume the popularity will slow as we resume normal life, but the trend appears strong enough that it becomes a required feature in eCommerce platforms...

WHY IT MATTERS: interesting take on a hot topic. How can retailers compete with Amazon? One way for local products is le panier bleu ;-)

WHY IT MATTERS: eCommerce evolution requires the equivalent of shopping malls, to draw customers into a single location. This list of top 100 solutions is very informative.

WHY IT MATTERS: this data of store attendance will be interesting to follow as stores reopen. Note this data is for USA, not Canada.