Technology, systems, logistics, fulfilment, fraud, payments and more
Mobile Fun has launched a new mobile site to cater for the 30% of visitors who come to the site from smartphones. It predicts that online sales will be matched by sales through phones and tablet computers within two years. The Birmingham seller of mobile phone and tablet accessories says (more…)
More than three-quarters of UK shoppers will use click and collect by 2017 as the service goes through “explosive growth”, according to a new forecast. Planet Retail’s new report, UK Click & Collect: retail fad or future of the high street? predicts that the proportion of people using the service (more…)
eBay is cutting its international selling fees for six months in order to persuade more than 14,000 small and medium-sized businesses to sell overseas. During the course of a six-month programme, eBay will waive its final value and insertion fees when invited UK sellers list their goods on the marketplace’s (more…)
International shipping specialist wnDirect has launched new delivery services to the Middle East, in response to the fast growth of ecommerce in the region. The company now offers four-day delivery to Oman, Libya, Lebanon, Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Egypt.
City Link has launched a new On Our Way service, which gives customers an estimated two-hour delivery slot and the option to rearrange the time if they’re not in to sign.
Tesco has hit headlines after logins and passwords to its online shopping site, Tesco.com , were posted on the internet by hackers. The supermarket, which is the UK’s biggest retailer, is reported to have deactivated some customers’ accounts following the hack. It’s understood that hackers have compiled customers’ account details (more…)
House of Fraser has today unveiled its mobile-first website. The department store group announced back in June that it was to move to responsive design, in recognition of the growing importance of mobile devices in the online retail cycle. IMRG figures recently showed that m-commerce is now the primary driver (more…)
Hermes today announced Sunday home deliveries, in what it claims is a first for a UK consumer delivery company. Initially, shoppers will able to place retail orders on Saturdays for next-day tracked delivery via Hermes. Carole Woodhead, chief executive at Hermes UK, said: “The retail sector has been trading seven (more…)
Retailers Tesco and Waitrose are joining Asda in signing up to bring their click and collect services to the London Underground. The two supermarkets will each have collection lockers in up to six stations, while InPost UK is also to install its own lockerbanks at three stations.
Delivery options are becoming more flexible as retailers move to connect their stores to their online experience, according to a new report.
Dunelm has moved its web fulfillment operation to the Midlands after signing a five-year deal with iForce. The homewares company now sees its online orders fulfilled from iForce’s Bromford Gate warehouse, part of work to improve its multichannel capabilities.
Difficulties in returning goods to retailers are putting consumers off spending more online, a new study has found. Irish independent delivery firm Nightline Group questioned 6,300 people in its research, and found almost 90% were deterred from buying more goods on the internet because of difficulties in getting unsuitable purchases (more…)
Godiva has opted for a new commerce platform as it looks to expand internationally, including into the UK.
Beaverbrooks has launched a new website designed to take it into the omnichannel era.
The final days of the pre-Christmas online shopping season are now in sight. Retailers are discounting heavily, offering up to 50% off as the final posting days before Christmas come into view. The final day for free or standard delivery comes as early as Monday December 16 at some retailers, (more…)
Online retailer Amazon is looking to a future of automated delivery using airborne drones. In as little as five years time, Amazon Prime Air deliveries could be made in the US within half an hour of ordering using small unmanned aerial vehicles. A video now available on the Amazon website (more…)
New payment card security standards released this week are set to come into force on January 1. They include advice for retailers who are outsourcing their payment processing to third-party payment providers, requirements to educate and train staff, and warnings on emerging new forms of fraud, and how to avoid (more…)
What will stores of the future be like? Thomson came up with its own answer to that question this week as it unveiled its first next-generation Holiday Design Store. The travel retailer has brought digital into the store as it looks to make its shops somewhere that customers can research (more…)
Delivery costs are driving online shoppers to abandon their purchases, and are a major factor in the £6bn set to be lost by retailers in 2013 as a result of abandoned baskets. The latest eCustomerServiceIndex from eDigitalResearch and IMRG questioned 2,000 online shoppers and found 77% of them had abandoned (more…)
eBay is to buy 90-minute delivery specialist Shutl as it develops its local delivery options. The acquisition deepens eBay’s expertise and capacity in local delivery and collection. eBay recently unveiled a Click and Collect trial service through Argos and has said it would expand eBay Now, its local delivery service, (more…)