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1、Ranking,data and analysis of the top ecommerce technology providers2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSRETAILCOMMERCE 360RETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.CHARTSOVERVIEW.4ONLINE ADVERTISING/ONLINE MARKETING.11How Spiceology nav

2、igates a cookie-free customer journey.12Bala invests in first-party data to pinpoint the data most important to the customer experience.13SOCIAL MEDIA/TEXT/SMS.17Magnolia Boutique experiences 79%increase in web sales through social media posts.18SMS helps retailers reach younger shoppers.20EMAIL MAR

3、KETING.24Hickory Farms changes its email strategy to maintain pandemic-related boost.24Bean Box automates its email strategy to free up manpower.27OMNICHANNEL TECHNOLOGY.29PacSun links digital growth with in-store network.29Perry Ellis launches buy online,pick up anywhere.32Dia&Co.uses technology to

4、 launch try-before-you-buy feature.34ONLINE MARKETPLACE MANAGEMENT.37Art of Tea uses software to track keyword searches on Amazon.37Bay Supply automates product data for its home-grown marketplace.38FRAUD ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.41Retailers fight against sophisticated fraud.41How Bass Pro Shops figh

5、t refund fraud.44AFFILIATE MARKETING.47Sneaker retailer Tronus keeps track of influencer-generated commissions.47CONCLUSION.50ABOUT.108What are your top five ecommerce technology budget priorities over the next year?.4Will your spending on ecommerce technology and services increase,decrease or remai

6、n the same over the next year?.5How much of an increase in ecommerce technology spending do you anticipate over the next year?.5What are your main reasons for spending more on ecommerce technology over the next year?.6When implementing a new technology,do you typically use a vendor or try to build t

7、he technology in-house?.7What are your reasons for using a vendor?.7What technologies from vendors have you implemented over the past year?.8Thinking of your last project with a vendor over the past year,how did it go?.50Thinking of your last project with a vendor over the past year,how did it go in

8、 terms of timelines and budget?.50What are the main things you look for when choosing which vendor to work with?.51RETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.SPONSORED CONTENTGEODIS.9Radial.15Nosto.22Partnerize.54I.57ChannelAdvisor.61BigCommerce.

9、70Saddle Creek Logistics Services.74e2open.76esw.82Signifyd.90Monetate.94Algolia.101LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 BY CATEGORY.52Affiliate Marketing.53Channel Management.60Content Delivery Network.64Content Management Systems.65Customer Relationship Management.66Customer Ratings&Reviews.67Customer

10、Service Software&Support.68Ecommerce Platform.69Fulfillment Services.73Fulfillment Software.77International Ecommerce Services.81Marketing Automation Platform.85Online Advertising.86Order Management.87Payment Processing.88Payment Security/Fraud Prevention.89Personalization.93Search Engine Marketing.

11、97Shipping Carrier.98Site Design&Development.99Site Search.100Social Media Marketing.104Web Hosting/Cloud Services.105Web Performance.106OVERVIEWCopyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.In 2022,retailers are finetuning the technologies needed to offer customers

12、a fluid ecommerce experience.According to Digital Commerce 360s Digital Technology survey,conducted from September through October 2022,an ecommerce platform is the top technology budget priority over the next year(46%of 135 respondents).Other top budget priorities include customer relationship mana

13、gement(CRM)at 34%,online marketing(30%),content management(27%),customer service software(27%)and fulfillment services(24%).Source:Digital Commerce 360 digital technology survey,September-October 2022WHAT ARE YOUR TOP FIVE ECOMMERCE TECHNOLOGY BUDGET PRIORITIES OVER THE NEXT YEAR?Select up to five p

14、riorities.Ecommerce platform46%Customer relationship management34%Online marketing30%Content management27%Customer service software27%Fulfillment services24%Marketplace/Channel management (selling on 3rd party marketplaces)19%Email marketing19%Payment,security systems and fraud prevention19%Customer

15、 reviews/ratings18%Search engine optimization17%Order management16%Affiliate marketing16%International ecommerce services15%Supply chain management13%Warehouse and fulfillment management13%Web hosting/cloud services10%Social media10%Omnichannel8%Personalization8%Web analytics8%Website performance ma

16、nagement7%PIM and other product data management4%Sales tax management4%Site search4%RETAILCOMMERCE 360RETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSOVERVIEW5Three-quarters of retailers(76%)plan to increa

17、se spending on technology and services over the next year.Only 22%plan to keep budgets the same and 2%plan to decrease ecommerce technology spending.While retailers plan to spend more,three in four retailers expect their spending increase to be 15%or less.39%of retailers predict spending to increase

18、 10.1%to 15%.And 32%expect spending to increase 5.1%to 10.0%.One quarter of retailers said they anticipate technology spending to increase more than 15%over the next year.The top reason retailers plan to spend more on ecommerce technology over the next year is marketing to attract new customers(66%)

19、.And nearly half(48%)plan to increase spending to retain existing customers.On the customer experience side,54%of retailers plan to spend more on improving CX.Ensuring customers can browse and checkout easily is also a focal point as 41%of retailers plan to invest in site performance improvements,sp

20、eed and efficiency.33%of respondents plan to support more cross-channel shopping and marketing/merchandising,32%plan to optimize product information,and 31%plan to improve shopping experience personalization.Nearly half of retailers are focusing on KPIs(Key Performance Indicators)specifically genera

21、ting more traffic and sales via mobile WILL YOUR SPENDING ON ECOMMERCE TECHNOLOGY AND SERVICES INCREASE,DECREASE OR REMAIN THE SAME OVER THE NEXT YEAR?Increase76%Source:Digital Commerce 360 digital technology survey,September-October 2022Remain the sameDecrease2%22%HOW MUCH OF AN INCREASE IN ECOMMER

22、CE TECHNOLOGY SPENDING DO YOU ANTICIPATE OVER THE NEXT YEAR?5%or less4%5.1%-10%32%10.1%to 15%39%15.1%to 25%18%25.1%to 50%5%More than 50%2%Source:Digital Commerce 360 digital technology survey,September-October 2022RETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All right

23、s reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSOVERVIEW6commerce(48%).40%plan to invest in generating more sales from repeat customers and 39%seek to improve conversion rates.Rather than grow a tech stack in house,70%of respondents said they typically use a vendor to try to build technolog

24、y.Retailers seek out Source:Digital Commerce 360 digital technology survey,September-October 2022WHAT ARE YOUR MAIN REASONS FOR SPENDING MORE ON ECOMMERCE TECHNOLOGY OVER THE NEXT YEAR?Check all that apply.experts specialized in their fields(68%).More than half(56%)said speed was a factor its faster

25、 to get a project completed when using a vendor.Curbing costs was also a factor for 31%of retailers that find it is cheaper to use a vendor Attract new customers66%Improve customer experience54%Retain existing customers48%Generate more traffic and sales through mobile commerce48%Improve site perform

26、ance,speed,and efficiency41%Generate more sales from repeat customers40%Improve conversion rate39%Improve mobile shopping experience38%Support more cross-channel shopping and marketing/merchandising33%Optimize product information32%Better personalize shopping experiences31%Other(data privacy complia

27、nce,inventory control,EDI)5%RETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSOVERVIEW7Source:Digital Commerce 360 digital technology survey,September-October 2022WHEN IMPLEMENTING A NEW TECHNOLOGY,DO YOU TY

28、PICALLY USE A VENDOR OR TRY TO BUILD THE TECHNOLOGY IN-HOUSE?than build a technology from scratch.28%said there is more accountability when using an outside vendor.And 27%of retailers were concerned about overstretching employees.Payment,security and fraud prevention are the top reasons retailers in

29、vested in technology(37%),followed by CRM(35%),ecommerce platform(34%),email marketing(33%)and online marketing and customer service software each reaching 31%as top reasons.LVIn-house70%30%WHAT ARE YOUR REASONS FOR USING A VENDOR?(Multiple responses allowed)Vendors are specialized in their fields68

30、%Weve found it is faster to get a project completed when using a vendor56%Weve found it is cheaper to use a vendor than build from scratch31%There is more accountability when we use an outside vendor28%Our employees are too busy with other projects27%We dont have the expertise in-house21%Source:Digi

31、tal Commerce 360 digital technology survey,September-October 2022VendorRETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSOVERVIEW8WHAT TECHNOLOGIES FROM VENDORS HAVE YOU IMPLEMENTED OVER THE PAST YEAR?(Multi

32、ple responses allowed.)Payment,security systems and fraud prevention37%Customer relationship management35%Ecommerce platform34%Email marketing33%Customer service software31%Online marketing31%Content management30%Web hosting/cloud services30%Affiliate marketing28%Social media28%Customer reviews/rati

33、ngs25%Web analytics25%Order management24%Search engine optimization19%Supply chain management18%Fulfillment services17%Warehouse and fulfillment management17%Personalization16%Marketplace/Channel management(selling on third-party marketplaces)15%Site search15%Sales tax management14%Website performan

34、ce management14%International ecommerce services10%PIM and other product data management10%Omnichannel5%I havent implemented any vendor technologies over the past year3%Source:Digital Commerce 360 digital technology survey,September-October 2022An executive conversation with Michael Lamia,senior vic

35、e president,GEODIS MyParcel&GEODIS eLogistics Americashigher tariffs and stricter regulations.In addition,wars,inflation and a potential U.S.recession on the horizon further complicates the ecommerce landscape.What strategies,technologies or best practices can help them address trends and overcome c

36、hallenges?First,SMBs need to decide if they want to build these cross-border shipping capabilities in-house or find a partner specializing in international parcel shipping.With that said,SMBs should understand that building that level of expertise and technology in-house is incredibly expensive and

37、time-consuming.The better alternative is to consider a partner that can implement a turnkey solution,such as GEODIS MyParcel.At GEODIS MyParcel,for example,we only need the SMB to give us a list of the products theyre selling,an estimate of how much they weigh,their dimensions and where in the world

38、 those products are going.From there,GEODIS takes care of everything else product HS code classification;tax and duty calculation;customs clearance;first,middle and final mile transportation;and complete visibility from the moment the parcel is picked up from the SMB through final delivery to the es

39、hopper.Most importantly,we have the technology to transparently display all related costs in the shopping cart.Partnering with a company like GEODIS removes the complexity around international shipping,eliminates costs and speeds up entrance into the SMBs target markets.Additionally,when SMBs levera

40、ge GEODIS MyParcel,the brand can own the customer relationship which is not the case when they partner with marketplaces.Our focus is on providing your customers with a fast,reliable and cost-effective turnkey solution.COVID-19 further escalated an already accelerating ecommerce surge that opened a

41、new set of consumers to U.S.-based businesses.As the world went online to shop,many small-and medium-sized businesses(SMBs)shifted their business models to start selling direct-to-consumer(D2C).However,they often struggled to navigate the complexities associated with international ecommerce.To discu

42、ss how leveraging a cross-border parcel shipping service can help SMBs more easily tap into international customers,Digital Commerce 360 spoke with Michael Lamia,senior vice president of GEODIS MyParcel and GEODIS eLogistics in Americas.How has ecommerce changed for SMBs in the past few years?In 202

43、0,during the pandemic,there were 9.3 billion cross-border orders,of which 60%were intercontinental.This rapid growth led to the creation of many D2C startups among parcel carriers and ecommerce platforms.With more options available,SMBs could explore shipping directly to international consumers,bypa

44、ssing the need to build the in-house expertise to do so.What ecommerce challenges do SMBs face when exploring cross-border commerce?Most SMBs have yet to figure out how to incorporate all of the complexities that come with international shipping into their platforms and its intimidating.Their bigges

45、t challenge is cart abandonment.From an international perspective,the lack of visibility related to duties and taxes lead to the highest percentage of cart abandonments.Its important that SMBs identify them,calculate them properly,transparently display them in their shopping cart and collect fees up

46、front from their customers.Most SMBs do not have the means or technology to handle that.What emerging ecommerce trends do SMBs need to be on top of?One big trend few people are talking about is the possibility of increasing regulations and tariffs due to the surge in global package deliveries.As Eur

47、opeans buy more from the U.S.,governments will examine what rules are in place and what tariffs they charge for importing these goods.This may lead to SPONSORED CONTENTLeveraging a parcel shipping partner helps merchants reach cross-border customersWith more than six million square meters of storage

48、 space in 300 warehouses worldwide,GEODIS is one of the global players in logistics.We develop industry-specific and tailor-made expert solutions for you and help you reduce the carbon footprint of your supply chain.From Black Friday to Cyber Monday,your customers demand immediate delivery.And they

49、order a lot.Its good to have a partner that masters every seasonal peak.Behind every great success,is a great logistics partner.To learn more about GEODISPlease visit KeepRONLINE ADVERTISING/ONLINE MARKETINGDigital marketers are tasked with finding and retaining customers.Fears of a recession and in

50、flation create a difficult landscape for online retailers as they plan how to adjust marketing budgets in 2023.Some are trying to get in front of shoppers by testing technologies to see how first-party data can be used to attract shoppers.Getting their marketing plans right will be essential at a ti

51、me when retailers are paying Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.more for merchandise the U.S.governments Producer Price Index that measures wholesale costs was up 11.3%in June 2022 over June 2021 and for delivery due to higher fuel costs.A Digital Commerce

52、 360 survey of 73 online retailers conducted in April and May 2022 shows that 44%devote more than half of their overall marketing budgets to digital.And year over year,66%of retailers digital marketing budgets RETAILCOMMERCE 360RETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media

53、 LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSONLINE ADVERTISING/ONLINE MARKETING12he says.“We wanted to be able to see who was shopping on our site.”Spiceology turned to MediaMath,a digital advertising software company,and Parrable Anonymous Device ID software for a 60-day

54、pilot period.Parrable uses a first-party cookie that can reidentify devices across web browsers,web views and apps.Parrable does not use consumer data like emails or other identifiable details.While Spiceology declined to share the cost of the service,it noted MediaMath adds a percentage to Spiceolo

55、gys ad spend.More than half of Spiceologys customers shop using Safari on their Apple devices(55%);35%use Google Chrome;and 10%use other browsers,including Firefox.About 75%of all sessions are from mobile devices.“That 75%mobile traffic continues to increase over time,”Overstreet says,adding that in

56、vesting in its mobile presence is increasingly important.Before using Parrable,Spiceology was unable to identify customers,making it difficult to retarget advertising efforts,Overstreet says.After implementing the technology,60%of customers became identifiable.“I can now see that a person is on ESPN

57、.com in Safari,and I can identify that person and get that message ad in front of them,”Overstreet says.have increased in 2022.And while 23%remain unchanged,72%of retailers forecast that their digital ad spending will increase in 2023.Retailers are investing in technology to use first-party data lik

58、e purchase history,email engagements,demographics,sales interactions,customer feedback and website activity,to strategize how to attract and retain customers.This section shares how spice retailer Spiceology and fitness equipment retailer Bala use first-party identifying software to uncover effectiv

59、e ways to market to customers based on purchase history.HOW SPICEOLOGY NAVIGATES A COOKIE-FREE CUSTOMER JOURNEYNow that third-party cookies are going away,Spiceology Inc.needed a new way to track and target customers using first-party data.The answer?Investing in technology that allows online retail

60、ers to add a line of JavaScript to their websites that will identify customers by their internet browsers.“If I cant find or identify the customer,how am I going to get in front of them in order to sell to them?”says Chip Overstreet,CEO.Spiceology needed help identifying users through first-party da

61、ta,Overstreet says.“There are customers that are invisible when they shop using Safari and Firefox browsers,”RETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSONLINE ADVERTISING/ONLINE MARKETING13says.“I nee

62、ded to put a marketing and an ad infrastructure in place to capitalize on organic demand that the business was already driving,”Wilson says.SoundCommerce allows Bala to create customer profiles and launch retargeting campaigns using its own first-party data collected through the platform without tag

63、s(short pieces of code written in JavaScript that are used to collect information about visitors to a website and how they behave on the site)or third-party cookies.To help him do that,Wilson advised Bala to invest in software that would collect first-party data to identify how shoppers engage with

64、the brand online.Bala could learn what shoppers want by analyzing that data and then use that information to make improvements where needed.Bala selected SoundCommerce and within two weeks the platform provided baseline reports including customer orders,fulfillment and shipping statistics,and tracki

65、ng repeat customers.SoundCommerce also allows brands to integrate features like tax calculators,shipping systems,or pre-built connectors like SAS(statistical analytics software)systems,Google Analytics,and social platforms like Facebook,Instagram and TikTok,which provide data that marketers can trac

66、k and review.After approximately two months,Bala launched the full SoundCommerce platform in November Spiceology declined to disclose how much the service will cost to implement full-time.With the cost of digital advertising on the rise and loss of third-party cookie tracking,Spiceology tested how t

67、he Parrable technology would increase web traffic.Within a few days,Overstreet says,the retailer noticed an impact on inbound traffic but declined to share by how much.“We didnt have to change anything else or our processes,”Overstreet says.“We just continue to do the same thing that we were doing b

68、efore,but now we have the visibility of a lot more customers and we can get our message out in front of them more.”BALA INVESTS IN FIRST-PARTY DATA TO PINPOINT THE DATA MOST IMPORTANT TO THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCESam Wilson joined fitness equipment brand Bala as head of growth in April 2021.He was task

69、ed with connecting the dots between operations and marketing channels.The goal was to understand the Bala customer without relying on third-party data no longer available since Apples iOS 14 privacy update and Googles plans to remove third-party cookies in 2024.Bala sells artfully designed workout b

70、angles,beams and bars.Data siloed into individual channels does not allow a business to see the whole picture,Wilson RETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSONLINE ADVERTISING/ONLINE MARKETING14“Yo

71、u traditionally need three,four or five different software platforms to be able to run those types of customized reports that we can run using SoundCommerce.Its a one-stop-shop platform for us,”Wilson says.Over the last year,Wilson says AOV has increased 20%to 30%since Bala expanded its product asso

72、rtment and began using first-party data through SoundCommerces tracking software.This increase occurred both for first-time customers and repeat customers.With the software,Bala can identify which customers are just starting their fitness journey and buying fewer pieces compared with seasoned fitnes

73、s enthusiasts who want to expand their equipment selection and buy more.Each customer shops differently because they have different fitness goals.Bala released kits in January 2022,allowing shoppers to choose single items as well as kits containing complementary workout equipment pieces.It can use t

74、he SoundCommerce platform to identify the correct shoppers to suggest these products to.“We have to walk a fine line between our customer who wants to dip their toe in the water and begin working out versus people who want a bigger overall fitness experience and how it affects the way they shop,”Wil

75、son says.LV2021.Now,in addition to baseline reports,Bala could write custom queries,Wilson says.According to SoundCommerce,a typical retail integration can take a few weeks to six months,depending on the complexity of the project.The cost of the software starts at approximately$10,000 per month or$1

76、20,000 per year,according to SoundCommerce.Wilson says the ability to write custom queries in the back-end within the SoundCommerce platform is key.Bala can adjust reporting criteria quickly.“For example,if Id like to have a conversation with my operations colleagues about how fulfillment latency de

77、lay and delivery latency affect LTV(lifetime value),that is not something that you would be able to pull in a standard report with any platform(that Im aware of),”Wilson says.Bala can now create reports through SoundCommerce and use that data to strategize where to make improvements and see whats wo

78、rking,Wilson says.The data is organized so retailers can easily query it and its readable and easy to understand,he adds.Some data points include order count,products purchased,days to fulfill,days to deliver,AOV(average order value),average order frequency,LTV and customer location.An executive con

79、versation with Laura Ritchey,chief operating officer,Radialthan traditional retail,and this cost pressure is increasing as retailers contend with inflationary cost increases on labor,packaging and transportation.Retailers are looking for opportunities to own their ecommerce customer experience and t

80、o deliver it while protecting their margins.What strategies should they implement to overcome challenges?Strategies to reduce the cost of ecommerce fulfillment include implementing automation to improve fulfillment center productivity,sourcing alternative packaging and supplementing national parcel

81、carriers with lower-cost regional carriers.The fulfillment robotics landscape has greatly matured in the past three years,and there is a wide range of technologies retailers can implement to improve the effectiveness of their fulfillment associates.Packaging innovation has brought solutions to the m

82、arket that can lower packaging and transportation costs while delivering sustainability goals.In addition,many regionalized parcel carriers have established services to major markets with compelling time-in-transit and cost options.How can retailers put these strategies in place quickly?They can par

83、tner with an ecommerce fulfillment technology provider,such as Radial.Radial has developed the technologies and capabilities that enable retailers to deliver a great customer experience.Our network of fulfillment centers lets retailers position their inventory close to their customers.Our technology

84、 provides real-time visibility to inventory throughout the retail supply chain and the capability to distribute orders to the optimal fulfillment location.Our operations offer a range of automation to support high volume,and our network of parcel carriers provides exceptional service and cost optimi

85、zation in every market.Each year,customer expectations seem to reach new heights.Consumers were once thrilled to receive orders in two days.But today,not only do they expect to receive them sooner within one day,the same day or even a few hours they also want to know exactly where their orders are d

86、uring every step along the supply chain.For retailers,who often face many variables in the fulfillment and delivery process,obtaining that information and communicating it to customers can be very challenging and the experience they provide takes a hit.To discuss how leveraging ecommerce fulfillment

87、 technology and expertise helps retailers greatly improve the customer experience they provide,Digital Commerce 360 spoke with Laura Ritchey,chief operating officer at Radial.Given the ongoing disruption in the supply chain,what are customer expectations around fulfillment and delivery today?Between

88、 the retail lockdowns and supply chain disruptions during the pandemic,consumers have learned the importance of inventory availability and omnichannel fulfillment options.Consumers expect retailers to deliver products where they want them in their homes,at a store or from a locker.And they are placi

89、ng a premium on the quality of information they receive throughout the purchase,fulfillment,delivery and customer service experience.How has fulfillment technology changed in recent years and why is it so important now?With online retailers looking to shorten delivery times and reduce transportation

90、 costs,many retailers are expanding their supply chains to have multiple inventory nodes to position inventory for ecommerce demand.Fulfillment technology has evolved to support this need by increasing distributed order management capabilities so that orders are routed automatically and seamlessly t

91、o the optimal fulfillment location.Real-time visibility to inventory across the retailers entire supply chain is critical.What are retailers biggest challenges around fulfillment?Ecommerce fulfillment is inherently more expensive per order SPONSORED CONTENTFulfillment technology and expertise help r

92、etailers greatly improve the customer experienceDeliver World-Class Customer ExperiencesBy Optimizing Fulfillment Operations to Be More Efficient,Scalable,and ProfitableRetailers face many challenges:Supply chain disruptions.Labor shortages.Inflation.Consumers ever-evolving expectations for faster,m

93、ore convenient order fulfillment and delivery.You need a partner you can rely on to successfully navigate the complexities of eCommerce fulfillment and exceed those expectations.Enter Radial.We engineer tailored,personalized,and scalable solutions that deliver exceptional customer experiences with o

94、ur innovative approach to fulfillment.In addition to end-to-end fulfillment solutions,Radial provides transportation management,omnichannel technology,payments and fraud,and customer care solutions to power your growing business.Find out how the fulfillment experts at Radial can help your brand brea

95、k through to the next level of eC|877.255.2857SOCIAL MEDIA/TEXT/SMSOnline retailers recognize the need to be where shoppers are.And shoppers particularly younger shoppers are often tethered to their phones.According to the Digital Commerce 360 survey conducted in April and May 2022,Facebook(73%),Ins

96、tagram(63%),YouTube(60%)and TikTok(42%)were noted as part of retailers digital marketing strategies.Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.Magnolia Boutique devotes a large part of its marketing strategy to social media-generated revenue,often tagging apparel

97、items directly in its Instagram and TikTok posts.Meanwhile,Inmod,an online furniture and dcor retailer,uses SMS text to personalize marketing messages to reach out to customers.RETAILCOMMERCE 360RETAILCOMMERCE 360MAGNOLIA BOUTIQUE EXPERIENCES 79%INCREASE IN WEB SALES THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA POSTSOnline

98、 apparel retailer Magnolia Boutique spends about 50%of its ad budget on Facebook and Instagram ads to promote categories.“Our collections are huge for us when the season launches,we put a lot of our ad budget behind leading customers to our website because we know they will browse other categories a

99、nd items once they get to our page,”says CEO Susan DelPriore.Magnolia Boutiques overall conversion rate is a little more than 3.2%compared with its social media channels,which ranges from about 2%to 2.5%.While Facebook and Instagram make up half its ad budget,the retailer is also increasing its pres

100、ence on TikTok.If there is a lull in organic web traffic,DelPriore says Magnolia Boutique will promote a specific product,like a best-seller,to help increase the average order value.Magnolias AOV is about 30%higher on social media than its site average,partly because of product tagging in social med

101、ia posts.“We make it a point to tag multiple products in Instagram and TikTok because it helps us increase our AOV because people are buying the whole look,”DelPriore says.Magnolia Boutique has about 239,000 Instagram followers.DelPriore says posts affect web traffic to Magnolia Boutiques site for a

102、pproximately 24-48 hours after a post is published.There is a residual traffic increase of about three to four days after a post is published because Instagram displays it in newsfeeds for a few days afterward,she added.Posts featuring influencers with larger followings 500,000 or more tend to have

103、a longer shelf life and drive traffic for 72 hours or more,she says.The online retailers most popular posts include one from Sept.10,2021,which featured Instagram influencer Laura Beverlin,who has a following of 1.2 million.Shes shown wearing clothing from Magnolia Boutiques fall 2021 line.While the

104、 products arent tagged,the post resulted in a 15%increase in web traffic but a hefty boost in web sales,which increased 79%compared with a typical day.Magnolia Boutique noted the shirt name in the caption.A promoted post of a floral dress became a hit on Sept.29,2021.It resulted in a 62%increase in

105、web traffic and a 72%increase in web sales during the 48-hour period after publishing the post.Determining which products to promote requires understanding how different social Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILE

106、RSSOCIAL MEDIA/TEXT/SMS18RETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.19to a retailers website within the TikTok app,or redirected to a consumers browser like Safari or Chrome.If a retailer wants to start selling on TikTok,it can log into BigCommer

107、ces channel manager and click on TikTok.By doing so,attribution and real-time tracking is activated,allowing Magnolia Boutique to see how much web traffic and web revenue are the result of a shopper interacting with a post on that specific channel,Gee says.Facebook and Instagram are the online retai

108、lers stalwart advertising channels,but DelPriore says TikTok is growing.The retailer currently has 12,200 followers on the platform.channels promote product categories,says Sharon Gee,vice president of revenue growth at BigCommerce.Online retailers like Magnolia Boutique use the softwares channel ma

109、nager feature to run its site using integrations into Google,Facebook,Amazon,Instagram and TikTok.The integration allows the retailer to distribute its products on these channels and track how they perform.BigCommerce engineers work to update the software to stay current with each channels evolving

110、features.For example,in recent weeks,TikTok has added the capability for retailers to tag products,similar to Instagram.Viewers can tap on the tagged products and are redirected 2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSSOCIAL MEDIA/TEXT/SMSRETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&V

111、ertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.20SMS HELPS RETAILERS REACH YOUNGER SHOPPERSWhen the pandemic hit,Brian Greenspan realized he needed to change his marketing mix.Greenspan is the chief operating officer of Inmod,a web-only retailer of modern furniture and home dcor.Furniture was a great bus

112、iness in the era of lockdowns and working from home.But it was also a great time for its giant competitors,such as Macys Inc.and The Home Depot Inc.,which were advertising heavily and driving up ad rates.Greenspan needed a way to break through and capture shoppers attention,particularly younger shop

113、pers with an eye for the mid-century modern furnishings that Inmod sells.So at the urging of Wunderkind,the vendor he used for personalized email marketing,he added SMS text messaging to his marketing strategy and over time generated the engagement he wanted.“The first year was bad,honestly,and I th

114、ink thats just because we needed to take time building up our offering and trying to collect those phone numbers,”Greenspan says.“But right now,were averaging around 11x(return on investment),which for us is very healthy and its where we want to be.”Greenspan says it sends various automated messages

115、 at touchpoints across the shoppers On Nov.11,2021,a Magnolia Boutique video on TikTok yielded more than 750,000 views,resulting in a 12%increase in web traffic compared with the day before.Overall online sales jumped 35%compared with the site average.The videos popularity significantly outpaced its

116、 typical number of views,which usually number in the hundreds or low thousands,without paid promotion.“Initially,we had over 650,000 views without any paid promotion,”DelPriore says.The retailer started using the video as a paid TikTok ad,and views increased to more than 750,000.DelPriore says the o

117、nline retailer noticed through BigCommerces platform that TikTok performed differently compared to other social channels.In general,shoppers prefer TikTok videos that are educational and have a less polished production value,she says.One popular TikTok video showed which shoes to wear with the lates

118、t in jeans styles.And when shoppers see what goes well together,they start shopping,she says.“We posted a funny video,and it took off,”DelPriore says.“The TikTok videos revealed to us that whatever items we do decide to post about,we better make sure we have enough inventory before we post it.”2023

119、LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSSOCIAL MEDIA/TEXT/SMSRETAILCOMMERCE 360journey,notably reminders of abandoned carts,notifications of price drops and items that are back in stock.He can also send messages on demand when announcing a sale,for example.While the click-through rate on text messa

120、ges that Inmod sends is lower than what the retailer gets from email,the conversion rate is twice as high.That doesnt surprise Greenspan.“People may have many email addresses,but they usually just have one phone number,”he says.“Someone who is willing to give out their cell number is likely to be mo

121、re engaged than someone who gives out their email.”Inmod isnt the only retailer to find that text messaging works well.Purchases attributed to SMS messages grew 106%in 2021 from the prior year,according to Omnisend,an ecommerce-focused marketing automation firm.Omnisend based its results on an analy

122、sis of 63 million SMS and other automated messages sent by its 70,000-plus clients in 2021.Retailers are getting the message about texting and have responded by increasing their use of SMS.After a 376%increase in promotional SMS sends in 2020,ecommerce brands managed to send 75%more SMS in 2021,Omni

123、send said.Ecommerce merchants find that the implied urgency of a text helps ensure that shoppers read a marketing message.Greenspan says the reason that SMS messaging works is simple:Its hard to ignore a text message.“Most people just delete or skip an email,but I dont really have many unread text m

124、essages on my phone,”he says.Simple Texting,an SMS platform for businesses,estimates 60%of recipients read a text message within five minutes of receiving it.“Its just a better way to communicate right now,”Greenspan says.“And more and more customers are finding it better.The younger generation appr

125、eciates it more because its like instant gratification.”LVCopyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.212023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSSOCIAL MEDIA/TEXT/SMSAn executive conversation with Jan Soerensen,general manager,Nosto Solutions Inc.Also,as globa

126、l privacy regulations proliferate,point solutions are riskier.Do you want 10 compliance audits or one?Besides that,the more tools,the slower the site making site speed another critical factor.How will personalization change in the next year?We expect brands search capabilities to become more integra

127、ted with their personalization.More merchants recognize the value in search signals informing a full-funnel experience.For example,if a user searches for scarves,that query can influence results beyond what products it immediately returns.If you integrate your search with your personalization techno

128、logy,the personalization can inform what content that user sees or which products show up when that user returns to the store.Sizing intelligence in product recommendations,search and merchandising is also on the horizon.For example,reranking recommended products in a shoppers most common size or co

129、lor first gives a more relevant experience.With the ability to personalize based on numerous signals,bundling things for shop-the-look offers becomes much more dynamic.How can personalization help brands tackle the global cost of living crisis?Whenever shoppers must be more selective with their purc

130、hases,brands must work harder to show them products and experiences theyre more likely to engage with and convert on.Additionally,now is the time for brands to leverage personalization to highlight their value propositions.Cost-conscious consumers are going to be comparing products across different

131、sites.Creating content experiences just for them to showchase features like product reviews and free delivery highlights the value of purchasing from you and might sway them.Sustainbility credentials might be more critical for other personas,which a retailer could highlight as well.Todays ecommerce

132、landscape is highly competitive,and retailers must create a commerce experience that resonates with customers.Delivering personalized and authentic experiences means increasing product discovery,engagement and loyalty.A retailers commerce experience is vital to driving up conversion rates,average or

133、der value and customer lifetime value.To discuss the critical role that relevancy and authenticity play in creating optimal commerce experiences that get results,Digital Commerce 360 spoke with Jan Soerensen,general manager for North America at Nosto.What are the components of the commerce experienc

134、e?Commerce experience spans everything from search and merchandising to personalizing content and product recommendations,which create a more relevant,one-to-one experience.It also means adding authenticity in the right place through user-generated content,such as post-purchase content that brand fa

135、ns showcase when they love your product and the experience.All these different elements work harmoniously to create richly personalized commerce experiences that are consistent between touchpoints.The key to delivering great commerce experiences also lies in the ability to A/B test multiple campaign

136、s,ensuring each visitors experience on your site is optimized just for them.Whats the benefit of investing in a platform delivery vs.a point solution?With a platform like Nosto,a vast data engine aggregates multiple data points.Those include visual recognition,search,behavioral,product,customer affi

137、nity,transactional,third-party import and integrations.The platform does so in real-time for immediate action across modules such as product recommendations,content personalization,search and merchandising.This functionality means you can nail 360-degree personalization as opposed to just one area o

138、f the customer experience,as a point solution would.Wrapped around the data engine is a predictive intelligence layer that ingests data from all your campaigns and modules and algorithmically recommends new ways to improve efficiency and scalability.SPONSORED CONTENTRelevancy and authenticity are cr

139、itical to creating a great commerce experienceEMAIL MARKETINGCopyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.rates.And coffee retailer Bean Box freed up manpower by automating its email marketing process.HICKORY FARMS CHANGES ITS EMAIL STRATEGY TO MAINTAIN PANDEMIC-REL

140、ATED BOOSTHistorically,Hickory Farms LLC,a food gift retailer,makes most of its revenue in the last four to six weeks of the year.And it has the average order value and conversion rate to prove it.In 2021,its AOV was 32%higher during the holiday season(October-December)compared with the off-season(J

141、anuary-September).Its quality,not quantity that counts when it comes to email blasting shoppers.And according to the same Digital Commerce 360 survey,the most effective digital marketing tactic is email(67%).Digital marketers may feel tempted to use outdated email lists to try to hit as many contact

142、s as possible before the holidays,but the tradeoff is a high bounce rate where the percentage of visitors to a particular website leave after viewing only one page or by ending up in someones spam folder.Learn how food and gift retailer Hickory Farms LLC invested in software to fight email bounce RE

143、TAILCOMMERCE 360RETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSEMAIL MARKETING25Farms web sales increased 59%in 2021 compared with pre-pandemic 2019.Besides just the Q4 holidays,Hickory Farms expanded its

144、 gift-giving options to include other holidays including Valentines Day,Easter,Mothers Day and Fathers Day,to help maintain shopper interest after the initial flush during the pandemic,Partin says.It also introduced a Super Bowl game day package.To capitalize on its newly acquired customers,Hickory

145、Farms invested in Validitys Everest software platform in August 2020 to minimize email hard bounce rates.Hard bounces,which is when marketers send emails to unknown users,nearly tripled during the lead up to the holidays in 2021 for all of its clients,according to Validity,a data quality and email m

146、arketing software platform.Validitys Everest uses internet service provider(ISP)information,which includes information such as when users are engaging with their Yahoo,or AOL email accounts,among other varieties of the Verizon network.The softwares integration feature allows Partin to see when subsc

147、ribers are reading through their inboxes and she learned that people pay attention to their email boxes at different times of day.Being able to reach a consumer at the time they are looking through email is a powerful engagement driver,she says.Conversion was 43%higher in that Q4 period compared to

148、the offseason.Hickory Farms declined to provide AOV and conversion rates for 2020 or 2019.Jen Partin,senior marketing manager,email and SMS,says because the majority of Hickory Farms web sales are at the end of the year,she is careful not to discard consumers that do not open or click on emails the

149、rest of the year.“If I notice people are not opening or clicking on our emails,I will reduce the number of emails those people get,”Partin says.“Instead of scrubbing those people out and forgetting about them,historical revenue data indicates those subscribers that may look lapsed in our offseason c

150、an actually turn out to be highly profitable during the core holiday season.”That four to six weeks of high-volume sales thats typical over the holiday season dramatically shifted in March 2020 when COVID-19 shut the world down.Hickory Farms became a go-to alternative source for food items that coul

151、d be delivered to consumers doors a welcomed service during a period of prohibited in-person shopping and food shortages,Partin says.The demand was so intense,the retailer sold out of nearly its entire inventory by May 2020.And momentum from 2020 continues to pay off,Partin says.As a result of retai

152、ned customers from pandemic-related shopping,Hickory RETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSEMAIL MARKETING26Validity uses proprietary view time optimization(VTO)by Yahoo,which is limited to Yahoo

153、 and AOL mailboxes.When a sender like Hickory Farms sends an email,the email is placed into a delivery queue and waits until the Yahoo subscriber opens their mailbox,at which time the senders queued VTO email is delivered.“That alone has been a huge driver,”Partin says.Hickory Farms experienced a 10

154、0%increase in lifts.Lift refers to an increase in sales as a result of an ad or promotion.Click and open rates also increased more than 90%because of this tool,Partin says.“When youre fighting for room in the inbox and youre sending four emails a day and its December 12 you need to figure out how to

155、 get noticed.”A favorable lift rate might range from a 20-40%open rate,where people open and click through an email,and its used to determine return on ad spend.Everest provides Partin dashboards that allow her to see how an email deliverability is performing based on its subject line,or certificati

156、on performance,which helps ensure an email is delivered to a subscribers inbox.Partin says its easy to view all the metrics shes interested in on one dashboard.Most recently,Partin says the software came in handy when it needed to quickly help the Canadian-based group of Hickory Farms.Before COVID-1

157、9,the group set up kiosks in malls to sell products.When physical malls shuttered during the pandemic,Partin says its Canadian group scrambled to find ways to market to its usual customers.The group provided Partin with a list of customers who had purchased from them within the last year.“I was able

158、 to upload that list into Everest and within a couple of minutes,it gave me the results of clean,fresh lists that I knew I could be comfortable emailing,”Partin says.She achieved this in minutes as opposed to days.Typically,Partin would need to go to another software vendor and create a purchase ord

159、er and then a waiting period to get that kind of information.RETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSEMAIL MARKETING27analyze and measure repeat purchase rates and track how many products it sells

160、through email.It costs$40,000 to$50,000 each year for the software.To monitor event spikes in traffic and sales,Bean Box uses Splunk.Its a“quick and dirty”analysis tool that costs$5,000 to$10,000 a year,says Bean Box CEO Matthew Berk.“Its really not a big cost to us to pay for these technologies.The

161、 alternative is we would be forced to rely solely on our system,”he says.“Instead of writing reports every single day,our time and labor are better spent serving the customer.”The pandemic accelerated retails plunge into ecommerce.Now,retailers realize they need to fine-tune their approach to contin

162、ue growth after the initial flurry of revenue.Third-party software vendors offer retailers ways to collect and analyze data to track and strategize how customers shop depending on where.The costs vary and depend on the volume of data involved.Its an investment worth devoting time to.According to For

163、resters 2022 Online Retail Forecast,U.S.report published in August 2022,online retail sales could increase from$0.9 trillion in 2021 to$1.6 trillion in 2027.LV“We were able to take our Canadian groups products and set them up in our shops for that holiday season,”she says.The platform gives Partin a

164、ccess to the tools she needs as an email marketer,she says.“To be candid,Im a team of one right now and having this platform has allowed me to manage our email program completely on my own,”she says.BEAN BOX AUTOMATES ITS EMAIL STRATEGY TO FREE UP MANPOWERFor nearly nine years,coffee retailer Bean B

165、ox has evolved its business and learned from selling through its own DTC website.A one-person engineering team could handle the tasks for the first seven years.But as the retailers reach and revenue grew including selling through its Amazon store and,in February 2022,in Walmart stores data managemen

166、t became more complicated.It became necessary to outsource certain tasks to prevent its now three-person team of engineers from creating reports manually.Bean Box outsources its email marketing software to Klaviyo to manage email automation,RETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Verti

167、cal Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.OMNICHANNEL TECHNOLOGY/INVENTORYThe in-store and online shopping experience continues to evolve and shoppers expect it.Services like curbside/drive-up fulfillment and the ability to check in-store inventory levels online are increasingly important to shoppers.In

168、 this section,both PacSun and Perry Ellis work to make the in-store and online shopping experience as convenient as possible.Many consumers found these omnichannel options to be time-saving and like the variety of ways in which to buy,receive and return products.It is important to carefully consider

169、 what technologies will allow for a smooth transition as more retailers seek to make in-store and online shopping as fluid as possible.PACSUN LINKS DIGITAL GROWTH WITH IN-STORE NETWORKPacSun is balancing digital orders and in-store demand.Part of that process involves retrofitting its existing 15-ye

170、ar-old legacy software to accommodate the retailers digital growth.RETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSOMNICHANNEL TECHNOLOGY/INVENTORY30Since the pandemic,PacSun has shifted its focus to grow

171、its ecommerce side of the business.Digital penetration is about 35%of the entire business,says Shirley Gao,chief information officer.PacSun experienced rapid growth in 2020 and 2021.2021 digital sales were nearly double pre-pandemic 2019,according to Gao.Digital sales include those from PacS and the

172、 retailers native mobile app;they do not include Amazon sales.The retailer added order management into its legacy data warehouse that traditionally included data from its physical stores.PacSun currently has 325 physical stores in the U.S.and Puerto Rico.Gao says PacSun needed to integrate its legac

173、y software to include digital fulfillment and customer information.PacSun uses Manhattan Active Omni software for order management.This software gives PacSun details such as when a customer makes an order online,the packaging process and supplier shipping tracking.The retailer uses software as a ser

174、vice from antuit.ai,now part of Zebra Technologies,for inventory forecasting to manage inventory and shipping costs.It helps minimize out-of-stock issues both online and in-store.Artificial intelligence allows PacSun to use historical data and current data to anticipate/forecast future demand for th

175、ousands of SKUs/store combinations.PacSun can plan its inventory strategy by reviewing customer data demand broken down by product,location and timeframe.PacSun uses Salesforce commerce cloud for its digital business.Balancing digital orders and in-store sales is complicated,and PacSuns Gao wants to

176、 use its network of brick-and-mortar locations to help it manage inventory and shipping and fulfillment processes.While PacSun declined to share how much it pays for these technologies,services like antuit.ai are subscription-based.There are often limited sizes and colors for in-store items.Inventor

177、y can be“thin,”Gao says.PacSun fulfills online orders from its various store locations.Ensuring in-store customers have a wide selection of items to consider is difficult when online shoppers browse the same merchandise.Online AOV is about 50%higher compared with in-store AOV.“We have been trying to

178、 explore the possibility to add more safety stock and maybe implement more protections to allow our store customers to have a chance to shop items in-store before those items get taken by an online shopper,”Gao says.Customer data has shown PacSun that its customers like to shop at PacSun both in-sto

179、re and online.Because PacSun uses its stores to fulfill online orders,that creates a complicated shipping matrix,Gao says.RETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSOMNICHANNEL TECHNOLOGY/INVENTORY31I

180、f a customer orders multiple items online,PacSun collects those items from its stores and warehouse in Groveport,Ohio,and ships them to the customer.Gao says PacSun realized that this was an inefficient way to ship.If a shopper in Oregon orders products fulfilled by stores located in PacSuns Grovepo

181、rt,Ohio,main distribution center and a store in Florida,it increases the cost to the retailer.“If we ship two or three packages to a customer,the additional shipping costs are for us an unexpected increase,”Gao says.“Were not going to charge the customer extra.”But to keep its Gen Z customers happy

182、especially first-time customers that PacSun would like to see become repeat customers shipping planning needed to change,Gao says.“We looked at the last 18 months of customer data and found that delivery time does affect the likelihood of whether that customer will return to shop with us,”she says.“

183、A customer that receives a package in five days versus five to 10 is more likely to return to shop with us.”Gao did not specify how likely it is that fast shipping can turn a first-time customer into a repeat customer but did note that the retailer has increased what it pays to ship after reviewing

184、customer data.“If that means switching from a less expensive FedEx Ground option to the more expensive but faster UPS mail innovation for some customers,thats a switch worth making,”Gao says.Shipping problems are compounded during peak periods like the holidays.After reviewing customer data,PacSun d

185、ecided to dedicate one-third of its stores that fit into the widest range of customer zip codes to serve as satellite fulfillment centers.“Stores that we find have less traffic and are a bigger space can handle that inventory,”Gao says.“That allows us to move beyond relying on our Groveport,Ohio,mai

186、n distribution center.”In August 2022,PacSun began offering same-day delivery through Amazon for 20 of its stores.The retailer has also used DoorDash and Uber to deliver from 70 stores since 2021.Delivery through Amazon seemed a natural next step,as the retailer has an Amazon store on the marketplac

187、e.“Our Amazon store is a significant channel for us,”Gao says.“Weve got a huge group of customers that might otherwise not have gone to PacS directly.“Now,with same-day Amazon delivery,Prime Shoppers can browse store inventory and get same-day delivery.”RETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2022 Digital Comme

188、rce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSOMNICHANNEL TECHNOLOGY/INVENTORY32Currently,PacSun fulfills its own merchandise on Amazon.But Gao says the retailer is open to switching to Fulfillment by Amazon(FBA).Amazon would then be responsible for

189、 shipping merchandise.“Weve found there are a lot of opportunities to work with Amazon to improve our customer experience and offer customers this really omnichannel,unified commerce,”Gao says.“We can give customers the convenience they want and the flexibility to shop how they want with PacSun.”PER

190、RY ELLIS LAUNCHES BUY ONLINE,PICK UP ANYWHEREApparel merchant Perry Ellis International wants everyone to save money on shipping both the retailer and the customer.With a few new omnichannel features slated to launch within the next quarter,the retailer is on track to reach this goal,says Jay Nigrel

191、li,senior vice president of ecommerce at Perry Ellis International.In November,Perry Ellis launched buy online,pick up anywhere across its suite of brands including PerryE,OriginalP,RafaellaS,C and GolfApparelS.It also hopes to launch same-day delivery with Target Corp.-owned Shipt before the end of

192、 the year.The goal for Perry Ellis is to give its online shoppers more delivery options which will improve their overall customer experience while also saving the retailer money,Nigrelli says.“We look at it as a value add for the consumer that is actually going to be cost-positive for us,”he says.Cu

193、rrently,Perry Ellis freight cost is 20%of the cost of its online sales,Nigrelli says.“Freight has continued to rise for us,and it is definitely challenging our P&L,”Nigrelli says.“We had to raise prices,unfortunately,and pass on some of the cost,not all of the cost,over to the consumer.”In addition

194、to raising prices on its goods,Perry Ellis also increased its free shipping threshold over the past year to mitigate costs.Shoppers now receive free ground shipping for orders over$99,up from$75.That threshold drops to$50 for consumers in its loyalty program.This low-threshold perk has significantly

195、 increased the number of its shoppers who signed up for its loyalty program,Nigrelli says,without sharing more.For shoppers who dont meet the threshold,Perry Ellis also increased the cost to ship the product to$10.99 from$7.99 over the past year.RETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&

196、Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSOMNICHANNEL TECHNOLOGY/INVENTORY33With buy online,pick up anywhere,shoppers can choose locations near them,such as Walgreens,Dollar General and FedEx to pick up their Perry Ellis order from.This is attractive fo

197、r shoppers,Nigrelli says,because Perry Ellis doesnt charge a shipping fee for pickup orders.Plus,with only 30 of its own physical stores,many shoppers may not live near a Perry Ellis store.Another advantage is that Perry Ellis doesnt incur the fee it would for shipping to a residential area,because

198、the packages are going to a business.This fee varies by location but is at least$2.00 per shipment,according to vendor Via.Delivery,which is powering the buy online,pick up anywhere program.This residential fee also surges during the holiday season,so the savings will increase depending on the time

199、of year.Via.Delivery connects to more than 21,100 locations within 5 miles to 93%of the U.S.population,says Mitchell Nikitin,CEO and co-founder of Via.Delivery.The vendor“piggybacks”off the existing package pickup framework that a number of retailers have already plugged into,Nikitin says.What Via.D

200、elivery adds is the backend Application Programming Interface(API)technology for merchants to use,so these third-party locations appear to the shopper on the checkout page like any other shipping option.And then for the merchant,Via.Delivery provides the shipping label for the package and can send b

201、randed emails with the shipping updates to the consumer.It took between three and six months to launch Via.Delivery,Nigrelli says.Perry Ellis did not pay a setup or integration fee to use Via.Delivery,he says.The retailer pays for each order it ships in this way.“Not only is it a consumer benefit to

202、 help the customer experience,but based on Via.Deliverys network and its FedEx account,its actually costing us less to ship it to a commercial location,”Nigrelli says.“And we dont get charged the residential fee,so it becomes a win-win.”Via.Delivery has about 15 other retailer clients.Retailers can

203、choose this model of paying just for the shipping labels or select a software-as-a-service model.The model can vary in annual costs,up to thousands of dollars,Nikitin says.18%of online shoppers say they have placed an online order and had it shipped to a collection point other than the retailers sto

204、re for pickup,according to a Digital Commerce 360 and Bizrate Insights survey of 1,116 online shoppers in August 2022.Nigrelli expects about 5%to 10%of its online orders will be buy online,pick up anywhere.RETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserv

205、ed.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSOMNICHANNEL TECHNOLOGY/INVENTORY34“Its just about convenience for the customer,”Nigrelli says.“This is just an added convenience thats a lower cost to us.”Another benefit to buy online,pick up anywhere is that the packages are shipped to a secure loca

206、tion.Shoppers dont have to worry about a package being stolen or being home when their packages arrive.In a 2022 Via.Devliery survey of 1,000 customers,33%of shoppers who chose to have their package shipped to a third-party retailer said they did so because of fear of theft,Nikitin says.Every month,

207、Perry Ellis customer service team receives calls about missing packages.While this is only a small fraction of orders,offering this service will ease shoppers minds.It creates a better customer experience in doing so,Nigrelli says.“Its more of the mentality around the consumer that the potential is

208、there and reliving that anxiety from them would be helpful,”he says.Perry Ellis is launching BOPIS as well.That also saves the retailer on shipping costs but comes with the benefit of potential additional purchases.Nigrelli expects about 3%to 5%of its online orders to be picked up in-store.DIA&CO.US

209、ES TECHNOLOGY TO LAUNCH TRY-BEFORE-YOU-BUY FEATURE“Fit is the No.1 source of frustration for our customers,”says Nadia Boujarwah,co-founder and CEO of Dia&Co.The online apparel retailer offers women who are sizes 10 to 5X the ability to try on outfits before they buy.Because of this feature,it was c

210、rucial for Boujarwah to build the business around efficient returns.In 2015,Dia&Co.launched as an apparel styling and subscription service as well as an online store.As an online-only destination,the retailer wanted to allow shoppers to try on items and send back returns without having to pay until

211、they decide what to keep.The retailer knew it needed software that could work with RETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSOMNICHANNEL TECHNOLOGY/INVENTORY35the existing fulfillment,accounting and

212、order management processes.“I ran our own distribution center and built all of our own fulfillment technology so that we could be excellent at the reverse logistics piece of it,”she says.“We had to be very good at getting those returns back.”In February 2021,Dia&Co.launched its“try-before-you buy”fe

213、ature with software from vendor Blackcart,which also handles returns logistics.In three months,the average order value for“try before you buy”jumped 30%above a traditional purchase and has held steady since,Boujarwah says.The AOV for customers who buy items outright tends to be just below$100,Boujar

214、wah says.“Try-before-you-buy”customers AOV hovers around$130.AOV fluctuates from month to month,but it tends to remain stable at about 30%more for try-before-you-buy-orders,she says.“A great observation to us is our customer is willing to experiment at slightly higher price points when she has more

215、flexibility to return things,”Boujarwah says.She did not specify how much higher return rates are for try-before-you-buy customers.Units per transaction(UPT)also increased 15%with the new software.UPT is a metric used to measure the average number of items customers purchase in a single transaction.

216、By building a positive returns experience,Boujarwah says the retailers goal is for customers to become more familiar with the brands Dia&Co.sells.They will become more comfortable with sizing and return less over time,she says.Customers do not need to wait for a refund.They do have to attach a prepa

217、id shipping label located in the original packaging to their local post office.Or customers can schedule a free pick-up from USPS.Returns can be costly to retailers and inconvenient to shoppers.Fit,size or color were the reasons for 42%of all ecommerce returns,according to returns vendor Narvars Con

218、sumer Study 2021:“The State of Returns:Finding What Fits,”in October 2021 of 1,040 U.S.consumers.58%of respondents said they use bracketing to try on clothes at home instead of in stores.Bracketing is when customers buy multiple items knowing they will return what doesnt fit.72%of respondents said t

219、hey used bracketing more in 2021 compared with 2020.“Try before you buy”is Dia&Co.s most used order payment type at checkout,Boujarwah says.She declined to share how much more popular it is,but bracketing allows shoppers to order styles in multiple sizes and return what doesnt fit without paying the

220、 full price up RETAILCOMMERCE 360front or having to wait to complete the returns process to receive a full refund.For$20,shoppers can select seven items at a time.This includes multiple styles in different sizes to see what fits best.They keep what they want and return what they dont using the inclu

221、ded return postage within five days.Customers redeem the$20 deposit toward the purchase of any items,or it is completely refunded if all items are returned.Shipping is included both ways.Try-before-you-buy orders go through a similar checkout process as other online store orders.For try before you b

222、uy,Blackcart takes over charging customers for kept items,generating return labels and handling issues like fraud.It does not require a pre-authorization hold on the shoppers credit or debit card.A big part of the vendors technology assesses the fraud risk during checkout and guarantees payment to D

223、ia for orders Blackcart approved.Boujarwah declined to disclose what the retailer pays for the service.Blackcart offers two plans for retailers.One for those earning less than$200,000 per month in online sales and another for retailers earning more than$200,000 per month.According to Blackcart,prici

224、ng is similar for both plans and average around 3%of try-before-you-buy gross merchandise value(GMV).There are no subscriptions or setup fees.For merchants currently earning more than$200,000 in monthly sales,the vendor has some additional features to tailor integration and performance support from

225、the vendors merchant success team.It takes an average of 23 days to launch the software,according to Blackcart CEO Donny Ouyang.Ouyang says return rates are on average 35%across all merchants it serves.Blended return rates moderately go up with try-before-you-buy and is expected,he says.But it is im

226、portant to note the increase in sales after returns is about 10 times to 14 times higher than the net increase in return costs,Ouyang says.Many stores have re-opened after COVID-19-related shutdowns.As a result,shoppers can shop in-store again.But that hasnt dissuaded Dia&Co.from focusing on its try

227、-from-home option.“When we think about the true value proposition of a customer going into a store for apparel,online beats stores for inventory availability and pricing transparency,”Boujarwah says.“The stores really beat online in terms of the fitting room experience.Thats the convenience of tryin

228、g something on before having to shell out the money.The other key value proposition is discovery.”LVCopyright 2020 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSOMNICHANNEL TECHNOLOGY/INVENTORY36ONLINE MARKETPLACE MANAGEMENTRetailers ar

229、e looking to marketplaces to reach new customers.And U.S.marketplaces continue to grow.According to Digital Commerce 360 data,marketplace growth exceeded that of other forms of retail in 2021.The Top 100 U.S.-based marketplaces recorded 18.7%growth in total gross merchandise value(GMV)in 2021 to rea

230、ch a record high of$917.79 billion,according to Digital Commerce 360 estimates.In 2021,U.S.retail sales growth held fast at 14.4%,according to a Digital Commerce 360 analysis of U.S.Department of Commerce Data.Total U.S.ecommerce sales growth rose 17.8%.In other words,marketplaces are outpacing tota

231、l ecommerce growth.In a sea of sellers some of which have very big marketing budgets it can seem daunting for smaller retailers to stand out.The pandemic prompted a lot of retailers to try their hands at selling on marketplaces to reach a wider audience.Its an arena more DTC retailers like Art of Te

232、a are finding necessary to reach a new band of customers.Meanwhile,Bay Supply invests in its own homegrown marketplace to bring buyers and sellers together.ART OF TEA USES SOFTWARE TO TRACK KEYWORD SEARCHES ON AMAZON“Weve got to meet customers where they are and thats Amazon,”says Hanna Houglum,vice

233、 president of online tea retailer Art of Tea.But if youre a small-to medium-sized business,how do you stand out among a sea of competitors?How do you ensure your products pop up during a customers search?Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.RETAILCOMMERCE 36

234、0RETAILCOMMERCE 360These are questions Houglum addresses during her weekly meeting with Art of Teas in-house Amazon account manager.The retailer hired one in 2021 specifically to manage marketing and selling through its Amazon store.Art of Tea tracks keywords using Helium 10.The software helps the r

235、etailer track the cost per click(CPC),which is the price advertisers pay each time a consumer clicks on an ad.Houglum declined to say what it pays for the service.The vendor has multiple plans starting at$29 a month with some product and keyword data tracking.Prices increase to$84,$209,$399 and up,d

236、epending on a retailers needs.The retailer uses several tools to help its keyword searches in Amazon.It uses Magnet,an Amazon keyword planner,to find new keywords that it otherwise didnt realize were worthwhile.The Misspellinator tool within Helium 10 helps retailers target commonly misspelled keywo

237、rds.It targets variations of misspelled key terms the brand should also be aware of.“Well notice month-over-month a shift in keyword popularity on Helium 10,”Houglum says.“You cant just set your product descriptions on Amazon and think,Its OK,were done.Its a labor of love for every word.Everything i

238、s changing,and more and more brands come onto this marketplace every day.”Art of Tea also uses Camelcamelcamel to track minimum advertised price(MAP)violations.This is when an unauthorized seller is selling Art of Tea products for less than its MAP price.“With this tool,we can track and see if there

239、 was an anomaly in our pricing that affected sales,”Houglum says.The retailer can check against how sales change based on pricing and adjust accordingly.Art of Teas DTC website runs using Shopify Plus.To offer customers a similar,easy,mobile shopping app experience like Amazon,it invested in Tapcart

240、.Tapcart is a mobile commerce software that integrates with a retailers existing Shopify website.Beyond Amazon,Art of Tea also is selling on Walmarts marketplace.It plans to integrate its 10 best-selling SKUs on W by the end of 2022.BAY SUPPLY AUTOMATES PRODUCT DATA FOR ITS HOMEGROWN MARKETPLACEMark

241、etplaces aim to bring many buyers and sellers together.If they do,they provide value to both parties,as buyers can find lots of sellers in one place and sellers can offer their goods to many potential buyers.Copyright 2020 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING

242、VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSONLINE MARKETPLACE MANAGEMENT38RETAILCOMMERCE 360But thats not enough to provide long-term value,says Michael Eichinger,chief operating officer at Bay Fastening Systems,a distributor of products that make things stick together,such as screws,bolts and adhesives.“Peop

243、le want to make their jobs easy,”Eichinger says.“The value proposition of a marketplace has to be more than just bringing buyers and sellers together.It has to help them work more efficiently.”Thats what Bay Fastening Systems is attempting to do with its BayS marketplace that it launched in December

244、 2021.The marketplace already offers many features designed to improve ordering efficiency,and more are on the way.And theres complexity every step of the way,Eichinger says.For starters,BayS must import into its system information about all the products that its sellers 120 distributors and 130 man

245、ufacturers,with more joining weekly want to offer to the 45,000 buyers registered with the marketplace as of September 2022.That includes product attributes,SKU numbers,pricing(including tiered discounts for buying in quantity),available inventory and minimum order quantities.Then,when a buyer asks

246、for bids on an order,the request for quote goes out to all the sellers that can fulfill the order,and the system automatically populates information like the sellers price,inventory on hand and minimum order size.That saves the buyer having to go to multiple websites and inputting all that data into

247、 spreadsheets,Eichinger says.That quote-management system has gone through a half-dozen iterations,Eichinger says.A final version is due to be released in late 2022.Another project underway will enable automated uploads of product data from sellers to BayS.That includes digital assets like images as

248、 well as price,product attribute data and inventory.The project,called BayConnect,will allow sellers to automatically send data feeds from their internal systems,including their enterprise resource planning(ERP)accounting and inventory systems,product information management(PIM)software that tracks

249、all the information about each product,website databases or electronic data interchange(EDI)pipelines.“The only efficient way to onboard product long-term is to do automated connections,”Eichinger says.BayConnect is due to go live in the first quarter of 2023.BayS provides many other features design

250、ed to improve efficiency for sellers.For example,manufacturers can upload all their distributors to the platform and ensure that correct product information goes to each ones Copyright 2020 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERS

251、ONLINE MARKETPLACE MANAGEMENT39RETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2020 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSONLINE MARKETPLACE MANAGEMENT40awareness of the company and helps drive offline orders.The key to success is offering convenie

252、nce,he says.Surveys show B2B buyers prioritize conve-nience over price.A marketplace that makes it easy for buyers to get quotes from many sellers,find inventory thats available when its needed,and complete transactions quickly makes life easier for procurement agents,Eichinger says.And it will aid

253、sellers,he adds,by avoiding a scenario where price is the only determining factor.Buyers often need products in a hurry.If they decide BayS is the place to quickly find available inventory,theyll start their buying journeys there.Theyll then make decisions based on factors like availability,ease of

254、getting quotes from multiple suppliers and automated approval workflows,as well as price.Once many buyers and sellers participate in any digital marketplace,it becomes more valuable for all participants,creating the network effect that Eichinger sees as the key to success.He compares it to Uber and

255、Airbnb,which now have so many buyers and sellers that theyre convenient for buyers while providing big sales opportunities for the sellers.“No ones going to remove Uber or Airbnb because theyve created that network effect,”Eichinger says.“Thats the end game for any marketplace.”LVlistings on the pla

256、tform.In addition,the supplier can designate which distributor is authorized to sell to customers in a particular geography so requests for quotes are routed to the correct seller.The marketplace also must properly deal with a range of other requirements,including sales tax,regulatory compliance,ord

257、er changes and cancellations.It has also built an online chat tool to facilitate communications between buyers and sellers.“Its a monster of a task,”Eichinger says.“Every week is a new challenge.”McFadyen Digital Inc.handles the development work for BayS,which is built on Magento software from Adobe

258、 Inc.McFayden Digital is an IT firm that specializes in ecommerce marketplaces.It has taken a big investment to develop BayS.Eichinger says it will be five to eight years before the parent company gets that money back.Part of the ROI will come from the 9%com-mission BayS takes on sales closed throug

259、h the platform.In addition,there is a 2.9%payment-processing fee that goes to the bank that either handles the credit card transaction or extends a line of credit to the buyer.But,Eichinger says,Bay Fastening Systems also benefits in other ways.The marketplace boosts FRAUD ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCEIts

260、 important to ensure that consumers are able to shop securely.Only 21%of consumers were content with sites being able to protect them from fraud according to a Digital Commerce 360 and Bizrate Insights survey of 1,107 online shoppers in October 2022.But what about protecting retailers from chargebac

261、ks and return fraud?Learn how retailers like Timex Group USA,Nordstrom Inc.and TrueFacet LLC use artificial intelligence to screen for potential fraud.And Bass Pro Shops found that with an increase in online orders came an influx of return-related fraud.The retailer uses software with artificial int

262、elligence to highlight potential fraudulent transactions to reduce losses.RETAILERS FIGHT AGAINST SOPHISTICATED FRAUD When Kyle Vassallo joined Timex Group USA Inc.in 2017,the Connecticut-based watchmaker was facing a slew of fraudulent orders,and the Copyright 2020 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web

263、 Media LLC.All rights reserved.Data as of October 2020RETAILCOMMERCE 360RETAILCOMMERCE 360system to prevent ecommerce fraud was slow and cumbersome.“It was a very manual process,”Vassallo,the senior manager of global ecommerce operations,told Digital Commerce 360.Timex had only one employee dedicate

264、d to online fraud detection.“He would kind of go through and look at what he judged as possible fraud and then go through each order individually and look up addresses and basically cyberstalk,if you will,these orders by looking at peoples phone numbers and email addresses.”“It was very time-consumi

265、ng and at the scale that we were growing 20%to 30%year over year it just wasnt feasible for him to go through and evaluate these himself.”So Vassallo began searching for software that could prevent fraudulent transactions.After looking at several vendors,he chose ClearSale,a Brazil-based company tha

266、t uses artificial intelligence to screen purchases for possible fraud.“I think the selling point for us was really that they stand behind their chargebacks.Any order that does go through and we get dinged for a fraudulent order(by the credit card or other payment company),ClearSale takes that off ou

267、r bill for the following month,”Vassallo said.A chargeback is when a merchant is forced to return money after a consumer disputes a purchase made using their credit card,claiming that it was fraudulent or made without their knowledge or permission.In a chargeback,the credit card company reverses the

268、 charge,reimburses the consumer,and debits the merchants account.ClearSale says it helped retailers avoid more than$55 million in fraud in the past 12 months by stopping more than 200,000 fraudulent transactions.The rate of fraud attempts varies widely across ecommerce categories.ClearSale says it h

269、as seen fewer fraud attempts for Timex than for online stores that sell cellphones,perfumes,computers,cameras,or luxury clothes.But Timex faced more fraud attempts than online stores that sell beauty products and clothing/apparel.Colin Sims knows how difficult it can be to stop fraud.Sims was the ch

270、ief operating officer at D,which connects consumers to local merchants,from 2009 through 2016.“That was an interesting time because fraud really took on a new form during that period.The face of fraud really changed,”Sims told Digital Commerce 360.Attacks were growing more frequent and more difficul

271、t to detect.Copyright 2020 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSFRAUD ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE42RETAILCOMMERCE 360“We were an on-demand platform.And so,the amount of time we had to deal with fraud and the transaction funnel was

272、almost zero,”he said.Sims started looking for a vendor who could do a better job of detecting fraud and do it faster,and he found Forter.Today,he is Forters chief commercial officer.He says he knows the pain that fraud and chargebacks can bring to retailers.And he knows that its a losing game for a

273、retailer to try to fight criminals on their own.“Traditional systems are almost unanimously rules-based engines,”Sims said.“So if you put yourself in the retailers shoes,and all of a sudden you start experiencing fraud,your first temptation is to do your own pattern recognition.You decide that order

274、s from this place,with this value,and these characteristics tend to be fraudulent.But not all of them are,and you dont want to lose good orders.So,you create a rule in your system that flags those orders,and you want someone to basically eyeball them to see if this high-risk order should be passed.T

275、hats what I did.Thats what most retailers did.”The result is a heavily manual process that tends to block good orders along with the fraudulent ones.“What you realize is that people arent really that good at reviewing orders.They are inconsistent,which is a big problem.Humans actually come up with a

276、 narrative very quickly,based on a small number of data points that may be right or may be wrong for any given order.”Copyright 2020 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSFRAUD ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE43RETAILCOMMERCE 360Accordin

277、g to Sims,while the number of incidents of fraud is rising,the number of fraudsters is not.“What you see is that the number of people out there that are actually committing fraud is relatively fixed.You know,these are professionals.This is what they do for a living.Theyre running literally a busines

278、s in fraud,”Sims said.“But theyre migrating across different merchants.And so you see them focus on one retailer and then move over to another retailer.And so to each one of those retailers,it looks like fraud went up and then went down.”Among Forters clients is Nordstrom Inc.,No.20 on the Digital C

279、ommerce 360 Top 1000.“With Forter,weve seen year-over-year improvements with our chargeback performance to the tune of about 10%,”Jim Gallagher,Nordstroms vice president of customer care and fraud,said in a written statement.“Every single year,our chargeback performance positively is improving by ab

280、out 10%.And thats with significant volume growth in the ecommerce space.”Merchants with a higher average ticket value were more likely to say theyd seen an increase in criminal fraud,according to a 2019 survey of 400 retailers in the United States and U.K.conducted by research firm Censuswide on beh

281、alf of Chargebacks911,which challenges chargebacks by payment processors on behalf of its retail clients.Merchants with an average ticket value between$14 and$28 reported an increase of 18%.Those with an average ticket value between$211 to$350 said theyd seen an increase of 33%.Thats not a surprise

282、to Raj Seecharran,CEO of TrueFacet LLC,an online marketplace of luxury watches and jewelry.“Fraud prevention is always front of mind for us in the jewelry space;everyone is aware of it,”Seecharran said.As soon as he and his partner acquired the business in 2013,“we knew we had to partner with someon

283、e in order to protect ourselves.”Seecharran chose Signifyd,which provides AI-based fraud prevention.The vendor offers a 100%guarantee on any chargeback that arises from an order it approves.“Its our first line of defense,”Seecharran said.“We do not approve or accept payments without a pass from Sign

284、ifyd from every credit card transaction.On average,my order value is about$5,500 on credit cards.But I think were at 100%success rate on orders approved by Signifyd,which is amazing.”HOW BASS PRO SHOPS FIGHT REFUND FRAUD With dozens of Bass Pro Shops and Cabelas Inc.physical stores closed during the

285、 pandemic,Copyright 2020 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSFRAUD ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE44RETAILCOMMERCE 360many of the retail chains shoppers opted to return online orders directly through shipping carriers rather than retu

286、rning them to the store,says Keith Thompson,senior manager for fraud and investigations at outdoor gear and sporting goods merchants Cabelas and Bass Pro Shops.The pandemic-induced surge in online orders created a domino effect on most other business operations,from fulfillment to customer service.A

287、nd the same is true for Thompsons fraud-prevention team and fraud-investigation team,which is the fraud team for both brands.With more online orders came more returns,and with more returns came more refunds.Thus,more refunds brought more refund fraud for both of its brands.Bass Pro received an incre

288、ased number of requests for refunds for orders shoppers said they did not receive.While Thompson knows many of these were legitimate requests,some of them were fraudulent,he says.The majority of Bass Pros refund requests about 96%-97%of them are from legitimate shoppers wanting their money back for

289、a variety of reasons,such as a stolen package or they changed their mind about the purchase.However,about 3%-4%are flagged for being suspicious and roughly 1%are refund fraud,Thompson says.Bass Pro uses fraud prevention software from Accertify Inc.,owned by credit card company American Express,to he

290、lp analyze the fraud risk for its purchases.Bass Pro has used Accertify since 2018.Refund fraud comes in a few more flavors besides false claims of not receiving a product.For example,some customers abuse the retailers policy by purchasing a product,using it,and then returning it to receive a refund

291、,Thompson says.The more sinister type of refund fraud is from criminals who purchase the product,request a return and refund,and return an empty box or a box of junk.Some criminals even recruit consumers to be a part of their operation.The criminals instruct the consumer accomplice on how the scam w

292、orks the consumer purchases a product,asks for a refund and the criminal returns an empty box and both parties share the refund money while the consumer keeps the product.Bass Pro keeps a close eye on certain products that are more likely to be targeted by criminals,such as high-value items like a t

293、hermal sight that costs more than$6,000,Thompson says.The merchant runs an analysis on merchandise that is generating refunds most frequently and looks into reasons why,such as if the product was damaged or of poor quality and then passes on findings to its merchandising team.Copyright 2020 Digital

294、Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSFRAUD ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE45RETAILCOMMERCE 360But if a particular product is often being refunded because several shoppers claim they never received it,that could indicate organized fraud.The sam

295、e products that criminals target for other types of fraud are the same as refund fraud,Thompson adds.Another signal of refund fraud is the location of the order or the refund,as certain geographic areas tend to have higher rates of refund fraud than others.Thompson declined to be specific,but says m

296、ajor metro markets are where the retailer usually sees problems.Another location-related fraud signal is when a customer initiates a refund for a product that was delivered in one city,and the refund request is coming from another city.Mismatching package weights is also a tip-off to refund fraud,Th

297、ompson says.Bass Pro knows the exact weight of all of its products.If a shopper orders 10 products and returns two,the retailer knows how much the return package with those two items should weigh.If the weight of the package does not match what Bass Pro expects,thats a tip-off the refund might be fr

298、audulent,he says.In this case,Bass Pro can refuse to refund the purchase price,or,if it has already sent a credit,rescind the refund,Thompson says.Accertifys machine-learning algorithm uses all these inputs to help assess the risk for an order,enabling Bass Pro to approve or deny the purchase,requir

299、e another form of authentication,or take other steps,says Jeff Wixted,vice president of marketing and client solutions at Accertify.Wixted would not reveal the costs of Accertify.Another step Bass Pro took last year was to begin requiring a signature upon delivery,which reduces customer non-receipt

300、claims,only for certain products.Prior to 2020,any online order of more than$1,000 required the customer to sign upon delivery.Now,instead of a blanket dollar threshold,Bass Pro can choose and continually update which products require a signature,such as ones that are often targets for refund fraud.

301、For example,$1,000 worth of corn is a lot less likely to be a fraudulent purchase than a purchase for$1,000 binoculars,Thompson says.Thousands of products require a signature,Thompson says,and the website informs shoppers either on the product detail page or in the shopping cart if a signature will

302、be required.This lets shoppers know they will have to be home to receive their packages,and thus reduces any non-receipt claims.The signature requirement also deters criminals from placing an order on the product,he says.Shoppers claiming they didnt receive the product decreased 80%since implementin

303、g the dynamic signature,he says.LVCopyright 2020 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSFRAUD ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE46Online retailers often use affiliate marketing to reach out to new shoppers via social media channels or popul

304、ar publications.Influencers,online personalities,deals and coupon websites,among other channels,help marketers promote brands.Footwear startup Tronus LLC invested in technology to manage its online affiliate marketing program to monitor sales from influencers and keep tabs on commissions.Its another

305、 way online retailers can reach out to new shoppers and increase online sales.SNEAKER RETAILER TRONUS KEEPS TRACK OF INFLUENCER-GENERATED COMMISSIONSTronus LLC is a small retailer with just five full-time employees that began selling its high-end,unisex sneakers in November 2020.It was founded by Sa

306、ntia Deck,a prominent female athlete she was reportedly the first woman to win a multimillion-dollar football contract when she signed with the Womens Football League Copyright 2020 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.AFFILIATE MARKETINGRETAILCOMMERCE 360RETAILCOMMERCE 36

307、0Association in 2020 who has become an online celebrity with 889,000 Instagram followers.As a small startup,Tronus needed help in getting out the word about its product.It launched a marketing campaign with online influencers who have social media followers of their own.It relies on technology to au

308、tomate that campaign as well as to handle fulfillment.Tronus began recruiting social media personalities to promote its sneakers,the prices of which start at$120 for childrens footwear and$135 for adults.The younger consumers Tronus targets are more likely to respond to expert testimonials than to a

309、ds,says Cynthia Cureton-Robles,chief operating officer of Tronus and Santia Decks mother.“This Gen Z and millennial population can see through something thats not real,”she says.“Having the brand ambassadors,its like our shoes,its coming from a real place.That is what helps us generate sales.”Tronus

310、 uses Refersion,which specializes in online affiliate marketing programs,to keep track of sales from influencers and calculate commissions.Each social media personality gets a unique code,and when a consumer makes a purchase on the Tronus online store after clicking on an influencers link,Refersion

311、tracks the commission the brand ambassador earns.That commission varies based on the influencers social media following,Cureton-Robles says.She says the Tronus program has three tiers,with the celebrities in the top tier earning the highest commission.Through the Refersion program,brand ambassadors

312、can sign in to see their sales and commissions.And Refersion handles payments to the influencers without Tronus intervention,Cureton-Robles says.“We dont have to do a lot,other than monitoring and approving applications to be brand ambassadors,”she says.“They create these reports,what is owed every

313、ambassador,and theyre paid at the end of the month.”Tronus also uses a vendor to efficiently fulfill its orders and automatically communicate shipping status to customers.Orders placed on the Tronus ecommerce site go directly to Verte LLC,a fulfillment company and warehouse management software provi

314、der that generally ships out the product the same day,Cureton-Robles says.Once a product ships,Verte automatically issues a tracking number,which goes through the Tronus store on the Shopify Inc.platform to the customer without manual intervention.“That sounds very simple,right?But if you dont have

315、that in place and youre dealing with this manually,humans make errors,”Cureton-Robles Copyright 2020 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSAFFILIATE MARKETING 48RETAILCOMMERCE 360says.“We had lots of problems with our previous f

316、ulfillment center,probably due to the fact it was a manual process.”Results:While the brand ambassador program only began a few months ago,Cureton-Robles says it already accounts for between 10%and 20%of Tronuss sales.She declined to disclose company revenue.She says Tronus plans to put more emphasi

317、s on the brand ambassador program in 2022.Refersions starting price is$89 per month for tracking up to 130 conversions.The company negotiates pricing for brands with higher volumes.Takeaway:For a brand like Tronus aiming to reach younger consumers,influencers can be effective,says Forrester Research

318、 principal analyst Kelsey Chickering.“As brands look to build relationships with a younger audience,influencers are a smart way to get into Gen Z feeds,”she says.She points to a 2021 Forrester survey in which the third most popular social activity that Gen Z consumers do weekly is following influenc

319、ers,cited by 37%of respondents.She adds that consumer brands are investing in influencer marketing and in related services.In a 2021 Forrester survey of 770 consumer marketers,34%said they planned to use influencer marketing services in the coming year.And in a 2022 survey of 800 marketing executive

320、s,43%said they planned to increase their influencer marketing spend.A 2021 Digital Commerce 360 survey of 143 retailers also found that many recognize the value of influencer marketing,with 41%saying it helps build brand awareness.But some are still investigating this marketing strategy and others h

321、ave found it lacking.10%say theyre using technology to find influencers that are a good fit for their brand.Connecting with the right social media advocates is a key to success,Chickering says.“To build a successful influencer program,brands must invest in consistent,longer-term partnerships with in

322、fluencers,versus one-off sponsorships,”she says.Its not surprising that marketing through social media celebrities and bloggers would catch on at a time when privacy regulations limit retailers ability to find new customers through cookie-driven,targeted ads.After all,consumers voluntarily follow pe

323、ople on social media,so theyve already given their permission for those influencers to communicate with them.Retailers are piggybacking on that permission to reach their target audience.LVCopyright 2020 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1

324、000 RETAILERSAFFILIATE MARKETING49Went as expected53%Went better than expected39%Went poorly overall4%I havent done any projects with outside vendors in the past year4%CONCLUSIONEcommerce options abound so it behooves retailers to invest in technology to ensure a secure and straight-forward shopping

325、 experience.To do that,retailers have grown comfortable using outside vendors to build up technology capabilities.53%reported that vendor-related projects went as expected.39%said the project went better than expected.Only a small portion reported that projects with vendors went poorly overall(4%)or

326、 havent done any projects with outside vendors in the past year(4%).Outside vendors proved to be on time most of the time(84%).66%of respondents said projects were on or under budget and 29%said projects went over budget.Retailers want vendors that will be responsive(55%)and use technology that is e

327、asy to use(54%)and fits easily with existing technologies(55%).References count as 48%of respondents look to success stories to bolster confidence in their investment.Retailers want to automate where possible.It frees up time that can be put toward more complicated tasks.But it is important not to r

328、ush into implementing a stack of technologies.LVCopyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.Source:Digital Commerce 360 digital technology surveyTHINKING OF YOUR LAST PROJECT WITH A VENDOR OVER THE PAST YEAR,HOW DID IT GO?On time and on budget49%On time and over bu

329、dget21%On time and under budget14%Later than planned and over budget8%No projects with outside vendors over the past year5%Later than planned and under budget3%Source:Digital Commerce 360 digital technology surveyTHINKING OF YOUR LAST PROJECT WITH A VENDOR OVER THE PAST YEAR,HOW DID IT GO IN TERMS O

330、F TIMELINES AND BUDGET?Digital Commerce 360 staff contributed to the content of this report.RETAILCOMMERCE 360RETAILCOMMERCE 360Copyright 2022 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000 RETAILERSCONCLUSION51Source:Digital Commerce 360 digital

331、 technology survey,WHAT ARE THE MAIN THINGS YOU LOOK FOR WHEN CHOOSING WHICH VENDOR TO WORK WITH?Select all that apply.Responsive team55%Works well with my other technology systems55%Technology that is easy to implement and use54%Great references48%Guaranteed response times if something goes wrong32

332、%A package that offers many features in one system31%Free trial period30%Willing to negotiate on contract terms27%Willing to negotiate on fee structure26%Low price23%Ability to stop service when wanted without incurring a fee22%Short contract terms4%2023 LEADING VENDORS TO THE TOP 1000Copyright 2022

333、 Digital Commerce 360&Vertical Web Media LLC.All rights reserved.Digital Commerce 360 identifies merchants technology providers by confirming them directly with retailers,through a third-party data source such as BuiltWith or Ghostery,or via the vendor.Charts and rankings take into account consolidation among ecommerce technology providers,unless otherwise noted.Client counts for some vendors in t