Shows
MCM CommerceChatGA4: Unraveling the New World of Google Analytics
The digital landscape has experienced a seismic shift with the recent sunset of the widely-used Google Universal Analytics (UA) in favor of Google Analytics 4 or GA4, introduced three years ago this month. As of July 1, Google stopped processing data through UA, creating a forced migration.
Marketers have had very strong reactions, complaining about the differences in the UI as well as features and functions that went away; some even held mock funerals. As businesses grapple with all this, users need to understand what this major change means for affiliate marketing and for data analytics in general. Ben...2023-10-0316 min
MCM CommerceChatGA4: Unraveling the New World of Google AnalyticsThe digital landscape has experienced a seismic shift with the recent sunset of the widely-used Google Universal Analytics (UA) in favor of Google Analytics 4 or GA4, introduced three years ago this month. As of July 1, Google stopped processing data through UA, creating a forced migration.
Marketers have had very strong reactions, complaining about the differences in the UI as well as features and functions that went away; some even held mock funerals. As businesses grapple with all this, users need to understand what this major change means for affiliate marketing and for data analytics in general. Ben...2023-10-0316 minMCM CommerceChatTailored Brands Leverages AI to Optimize Inventory Management
Tailored Brands is leveraging AI technology to optimize inventory management for its events business (company photo)
Inventory management is a perennially difficult function to get right. Retailers are effectively placing continual bets on where, when and how much demand to plan for, with a direct impact on profit or loss. Add in an omnichannel business model, and the game gets even trickier.
Tailored Brands, an omnichannel menswear and formalwear retailer that includes Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank, needed a way to anticipate customers’ evolving preferences for various style, color and size choices in its...2023-09-0520 minMCM CommerceChatTailored Brands Leverages AI to Optimize Inventory ManagementTailored Brands is leveraging AI technology to optimize inventory management for its events business (company photo)
Inventory management is a perennially difficult function to get right. Retailers are effectively placing continual bets on where, when and how much demand to plan for, with a direct impact on profit or loss. Add in an omnichannel business model, and the game gets even trickier.
Tailored Brands, an omnichannel menswear and formalwear retailer that includes Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank, needed a way to anticipate customers’ evolving preferences for various style, color and size choices in its...2023-09-0520 minMCM CommerceChatWho Is Leading in GenAI Readiness and Projected Business Impact?
It’s undeniable that GenAI is have a major impact across industries, especially since OpenAI introduced ChatGPT last November. But what does that mean in terms of dollars and cents? Research firm IHL Group has taken a stab at the collective impact of AI, GenAI and machine learning on the retail and restaurant sectors through 2029 in its new report: $1.5 trillion, with a “T.” Across all public companies in North America, IHL estimates, that figure is north of $9 trillion. The firm has also ranked the top 7 firms across a variety of retail sectors in terms of their AI readiness and projec...2023-08-1716 minMCM CommerceChatWho Is Leading in GenAI Readiness and Projected Business Impact?It’s undeniable that GenAI is have a major impact across industries, especially since OpenAI introduced ChatGPT last November. But what does that mean in terms of dollars and cents? Research firm IHL Group has taken a stab at the collective impact of AI, GenAI and machine learning on the retail and restaurant sectors through 2029 in its new report: $1.5 trillion, with a “T.” Worldwide, IHL estimates, that figure is $9.2 trillion.
The firm has also ranked the top 7 firms across a variety of retail sectors in terms of their AI readiness and projected business impact. IHL president Greg Buzek...2023-08-1716 minMCM CommerceChatMCM CommerceChat: U.S. Spending on Returns Equals Public School Budget
Welcome everyone to another episode of MCM’s CommerceChat; your home for all things ecommerce operations, logistics, supply chain and marketing. Our readers may have noticed that we’re dedicating a special focus for Q3, highlighting some of the more innovative and unique approaches to handling the ever-growing problem facing the industry around ecommerce returns.
Returns are close to becoming a trillion-dollar problem for our retailer community, so we sat down with Simone Theresa Peinkofer, Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management at Michigan State University. Simone has focused her research on retail supply chain management, fulfillment operations, and co...2023-08-0913 minMCM CommerceChatMCM CommerceChat: U.S. Spending on Returns Equals Public School BudgetWith ecommerce returns close to a $1 trillion problem for retailers, companies continue to wrestle with ways to reduce the number of orders getting sent back. In many ways it’s a problem of their own making, with lenient policies and often free return shipping making it easy to do so, although that’s being dialed back. There’s also the scourge of “bracketing” in apparel: order multiple items, keep one and send the rest back.
Simone Theresa Peinkofer, Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management at Michigan State University, writes in Fortune that reverse logistics cost retailers roughly $816 billion in...2023-08-0913 minMCM CommerceChatLooking At UPS-Teamster Scenarios
With contract talks between UPS and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters at a standstill for over a week, and no new sessions scheduled, a noted research group is saying a strike could be “one of the costliest in at least a century,” Reuters reports. And the clock ticks toward midnight on July 31, now two and a half weeks away.
Can the two sides reach agreement in time? Should UPS meet the union’s demand for higher part-time worker pay, or leave its last offer on the table? Is there a joint realization that too much is at stake...2023-07-1400 minMCM CommerceChatLooking At UPS-Teamster ScenariosWith contract talks between UPS and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters at a standstill for over a week, and no new sessions scheduled, a noted research group is saying a strike could be “one of the costliest in at least a century,” Reuters reports. And the clock ticks toward midnight on July 31, now two and a half weeks away.
Can the two sides reach agreement in time? Should UPS meet the union’s demand for higher part-time worker pay, or leave its last offer on the table? Is there a joint realization that too much is at stake...2023-07-1400 min
MCM CommerceChatReturns: Minimizing the Impact of Escalating CostsManaging the costs of returns and leveraging them as an opportunity is critical for retailers. Returns might be a significant expense, and while managing those costs is critical to maintaining profitability, retailers still need to provide a good customer experience.
But the landscape is shifting quickly. While industry behemoths like Walmart leverage gig workers to provide yet another avenue, most smaller retailers are examining scaling back their reverse logistics to manage costs. Industry innovation has resulted in a plethora of new choices for smaller and mid-sized retailers and their customers.
There is certainly a massive env...2023-07-1217 minMCM CommerceChatReturns: Minimizing the Impact of Escalating Costs
Managing the costs of returns and leveraging them as an opportunity is critical for retailers. Returns might be a significant expense for retailers, and while managing those costs is critical to maintaining profitability, retailers still need to provide a good customer experience.
But the landscape is shifting quickly for retailers. While industry behemoths like Walmart leverage gig workers to provide yet another avenue, most smaller retailers are examining scaling back their reverse logistics to manage costs. Industry innovation has resulted in a plethora of new choices for smaller and mid-sized retailers and their customers.
There is...2023-07-1217 minMCM CommerceChatThe INFORM Act: What You Need to Know
The Integrity, Notification, and Fairness in Online Market Retail Marketplaces for Consumers Act, aka INFORM Act, was approved by Congress in December 2022 and goes into effect June 27. It’s meant to help stem the massive tide of stolen or counterfeit goods sold from ecommerce marketplaces, injecting a level of transparency and accountability.
The Buy Safe Coalition, which includes RILA (Retail Industry Leaders Association), estimated in 2021 that $54 billion was in lost annually from the sale of fraudulent goods online. You can imagine it’s gone up since. Even Amazon, long cited as a source of counterfeit traffic, has been...2023-06-0217 minMCM CommerceChatThe INFORM Act: What You Need to Know
The Integrity, Notification, and Fairness in Online Market Retail Marketplaces for Consumers Act, aka INFORM Act, was approved by Congress in December 2022 and goes into effect June 27. It’s meant to help stem the massive tide of stolen or counterfeit goods sold from ecommerce marketplaces, injecting a level of transparency and accountability.
The Buy Safe Coalition, which includes RILA (Retail Industry Leaders Association), estimated in 2021 that $54 billion was in lost annually from the sale of fraudulent goods online. You can imagine it’s gone up since. Even Amazon, long cited as a source of counterfeit traffic, has been...2023-06-0217 minMCM CommerceChatTest Podcast PostTest Podcast Post
The post Test Podcast Post appeared first on Multichannel Merchant.2023-05-1829 minMCM CommerceChatTest Podcast Post
Test Podcast Post
The post Test Podcast Post appeared first on Multichannel Merchant.
2023-05-1800 minMCM CommerceChatWhat’s Going On with the Booming Recommerce Industry?
Secondhand clothing has come a long way since the days of the community thrift store as quick-acting brands have positioned themselves to capture some of the $100B global recommerce market. Multichannel Merchant caught up with Bernardine Wu, executive managing director, and Richard Siefert, consultant, from OSF Digital to talk about the results of their Brand Resale Index, how REI works to deliver a fantastic resale experience, why some brands falter when it comes to fully supporting their resale efforts, and how you can help get the ball rolling with launching your brand’s resale program.
The...2023-05-1830 minMCM CommerceChatWhat’s Going on with the Booming Recommerce Industry???
Secondhand clothing has come a long way since the days of the community thrift store as quick-acting brands have positioned themselves to capture some of the $100B global recommerce market. Multichannel Merchant caught up with Bernardine Wu, executive managing director, and Richard Siefert, consultant, from OSF Digital to talk about the results of their Brand Resale Index, how REI works to deliver a fantastic resale experience, why some brands falter when it comes to fully supporting their resale efforts, and how you can help get the ball rolling with launching your brand’s resale program.
The...2023-05-1829 minMCM CommerceChatRetailers’ Real Appetite for Sustainability
A new global study by IBM found that 61% of consumer goods and retail leaders are purposefully aligning their sustainability and operational goals, with 77% of the respondents agreeing that sustainability investments will accelerate business growth.
The study, titled “Redesigning Brand Values: Purpose and Profit Converge in Core Operations,” highlights success stories from Levi Strauss, Pandora, Reckitt, Unilever and Walmart.
Luq Niazi, global managing partner and Industries and Global Consumer Industry leader at IBM Consulting, shared insights from the report in this MCM CommerceChat podcast. He explains how companies are allocating resources for sustainability, and advises how to c...2023-05-1129 minMCM CommerceChatRetailers’ Real Appetite for Sustainability
A new global study by IBM found that 61% of consumer goods and retail leaders are purposefully aligning their sustainability and operational goals, with 77% of the respondents agreeing that sustainability investments will accelerate business growth.
The study, titled “Redesigning Brand Values: Purpose and Profit Converge in Core Operations,” highlights success stories from Levi Strauss, Pandora, Reckitt, Unilever and Walmart.
Luq Niazi, global managing partner and Industries and Global Consumer Industry leader at IBM Consulting, shared insights from the report in this MCM CommerceChat podcast. He explains how companies are allocating resources for sustainability, and advises how to c...2023-05-1129 minMCM CommerceChatWalmart and the DTC Brand Unwind
The curious case of Walmart and its venture into creating a stable of hot startup DTC brands has come to a close, with the 2023 sales of Moosejaw, Bonobos and Eloquii in quick succession. So it’s a fitting time to take a look at the six-year-plus journey that began with the massive $3.3 billion acquisition of Jet.com in 2016.
While part of it may look ugly on the balance sheet, especially Jet.com and the 76% discount to Bonobos’ $310 million price tag in 2017, Walmart gained a good deal in terms of market intelligence, entrepreneurial innovation and insights into younger shop...2023-05-0410 minMCM CommerceChatConsumer Data Privacy on the March
The California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), an amendment to the 2018 California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), went into effect on Jan. 1, requiring publishers and advertisers to ensure compliance with new consumer data privacy guidelines.
CPRA rulemaking is still in progress, and enforcement is set to begin July 1. Other states, including Virginia, Colorado and Connecticut are issuing their own privacy regulations. And in lieu of a national standard, the Federal Trade Commission has issued its own regulations on consumer data privacy, mostly focused on children and healthcare; one area the FTC is looking at is pixel tracking, with actions...2023-03-2322 minMCM CommerceChatCompostable Apparel: A Conversation with Eric Liedtke of Unless Collective
In the 1967 Mike Nichols film “The Graduate,” there’s an iconic scene where Dustin Hoffman’s character Benjamin Braddock is given one word of career advice by a well-meaning family friend at his college graduation party: plastics.
Fast-forward more than 50 years, and there certainly was a future in it. The earth is literally swimming in the stuff, causing some forward-looking companies to pursue solutions that aren’t additive to that sea of petrochemical-based apparel and footwear ending up in landfills or incinerated.
Unless Collective, a Portland, OR startup that is creating plant- and mineral-based footwear and appare...2023-02-2323 minMCM CommerceChatSizing Up Consumer Trends in 2023 with S&P
Photo credit: Alexander Grey on Unsplash
With a month of 2023 behind us, everyone in retail is wondering how consumer trends will play out this year in the face of ongoing (but lessening) inflation and a tricky macroeconomic picture, to say the least. While there may be something on the order of $1 trillion collectively still sitting in the discretionary pot among U.S. consumers, per NRF’s economists, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will be pouring into stores and websites. To help us get a better understanding of the picture in the months ahead, we caught up with...2023-02-0216 minMCM CommerceChatGig Workers Change Considered by DOL
Last month, the Department of Labor proposed a change to the way it determines the classification of independent contractors. If it eventually becomes law, the rule change would have a lasting effect on the gig economy and gig workers. It would replace a Trump-era rule that made it easier to classify workers as contractors, and thus not covered by federal minimum wage laws or entitled to benefits like health insurance and paid sick days. Yet the workforce is shifting to a flex model across the board, and delivery/rideshare drivers are no exception.
The recent AB5 reclassification...2022-11-2214 minMCM CommerceChatHow Alen Expanded from DTC/Ecomm Onto Lowe’s Shelves
For 16 years, Alen has been selling its top-rated air purifiers on Alen.com and Amazon. Recently, the company made its first venture into retail, and its products are now available in 300+ Lowe’s stores, with the potential for expansion in 2023. The company saw great success during the pandemic, experiencing 210% growth since 2020 as the move indoors for work, school and living made clean air a must for many consumers. Now Alen’s retail expansion has opened up a new avenue outside of its ecommerce and DTC roots.
The bootstrapped private company has its air purifiers in over 70,000 classrooms, 200,000 home...2022-11-1717 minMCM CommerceChatOcean Shipping Reform Act: Rework Container Fee Assessment
To address ongoing supply chain and port congestion issues, although conditions have eased recently, President Biden signed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act in June. It empowers the Federal Maritime Commission to do things like stopping ocean carriers from unreasonably declining American cargo and imposing unjust fees. All good so far.
But one thorny provision requires adding the date a shipping container is made accessible on all invoices, in order to fairly assess detention fees for the late return of empty containers to the port. This new data element has essentially shifted the burden of proof for assessing...2022-11-0417 minMCM CommerceChatOne Broker’s View: Let’s Lift OT Exemption for Truckers
Last month, a bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate which aims to amend the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act to remove the overtime exemption for truckers; a companion bill was introduced in the House in April. The aim of both is to make the profession more attractive and help close an estimated shortfall of 80,000 drivers, per the American Trucking Association; the problem’s also global. The ATA says this is the case even though median wages rose 18% in 2021. The legislation is also targeting highway safety: According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, there were 5,000 crashes involving commercial ve...2022-10-2517 minMCM CommerceChatPutting Kroger and Albertsons in Context
Last week Kroger announced it was acquiring Albertsons for $24.5 billion, a major deal on the order of Amazon buying Whole Foods in 2017. The deal is subject to regulatory approval, and the FTC has been more rigorous during the Biden administration; indeed, hearings are already being called for. But if it passes muster, it immediately reshapes the power structure in grocery: The combined entity of Kroger and Albertsons — number one and two in terms of grocery store coverage — will control about 13% of the U.S. grocery market, according to Bank of America and J.P. Morgan, behind Walmart at 22%. It also...2022-10-1916 minMCM CommerceChatKroger’s 84.51° Labs: Pushing the Boundaries of Data Science
In 2015, major grocer Kroger acquired the U.S. assets of its data science partner dunnhumby. Out of that grew 84.51°, a retail data and analytics unit that encompasses shopper insights, loyalty marketing and retail media advertising.
The unit is credited with helping Kroger become an omnichannel powerhouse in a sector that had been lagging others in retail, reaching $10 billion in digital sales in 2020 and seeing 113% growth since. The output from the group benefits Kroger’s CPG brand partners, as well.
Now Kroger and 84.51° have launched a Science and Technology Solutions team. Led by Chief Data and Tech...2022-10-1118 min