In today’s InternetRetailing newsletter we’re reporting as retailers and brands alike put online at the forefront of their strategies – during lockdown 3.0 and beyond.
Watches of Switzerland, for example, has seen strong demand online from shoppers unable to visit cities or tourist destinations to buy – primarily – luxury watches. The new strategies that it has developed, such as a new concierge and collect service, enable it to deliver on that demand during a Christmas quarter when many of its shops were shut.
Brand owner Unilever has made ecommerce one of its five strategic pillars. It reports this week on a 61% growth in ecommerce sales over its latest year and says that online now accounts for 9% of its sales. Overall sales, however, were hit as shoppers bought the brands that fit their new stay-at-home lifestyles.
The shift online is driving new habits, too, according to new DMA research that suggests more than a third of shoppers are now signed-up for next day delivery subscriptions – and that 14% have subscribed to regular deliveries of beauty products.
New ways of buying have brought a shortage of cardboard and related packaging materials. Packaging business Antalis says it’s now time to consider and plan alternative packaging strategies ahead of this year’s peak trading season.
Meanwhile, French Connection says today that two potential suitors are now considering an offer. The interest comes just over a year since the multichannel fashion retailer took itself off sale as it looked to overhaul its business strategy.
Today’s guest comment comes from Peter Lorant of Zendesk EMEA who considers how retail should respond when everybody is a digital shopper.
