Amazon, Laura Ashley and The Body Shop on multichannel strategies

In today’s InternetRetailing newsletter we’re reporting as Amazon plans what it will do with Whole Foods Market when it takes ownership on Monday. It’s not surprising to see that having stores will eventually be deployed in multichannel services such as click and collect and return to store. We’d also expect to see more stores opening in strategic Amazon locations around the UK. Currently Whole Foods Market has nine stores, including seven in London but it could be that Amazon’s opening move to cut prices will give the organic retailer a wider audience, and reach, in this country.

Today we also have an interview with Harriet Williams of The Body Shop, a preview of the IRX 2017 Stand up & Deliver Conference, we report on news of rising online sales at Laura Ashley, and on two studies that emphasise the importance of using data to target online consumers.

Today’s guest comment comes from Steve Powell of unified commerce solutions and services provider PCMS, who considers the role of the store in driving online conversion.

The Tamebay Ecommerce Cup

The Tamebay Ecommerce Cup 2017 will be held on September 7 and five-a-side teams are now being invited to sign up. The tournament, now in its fifth year, is moving to a new venue in Shepherd’s Bush and promises FA refs and a comfy new players’ lounge complete with screens to keep tabs on competitors’ matches.

“We had a total of 26 teams enter last year, and it was great to have both suppliers and retailers competing, with Deliveroo taking the top spot and runners up Uber narrowly missing out,” says Mark Pigou, founder of InternetRetailing Media. “This year promises to be just as competitive.” To enter a team of up to 10 people (five players and five subs), sign up here.

Sponsorship opportunities are limited to three companies: email Joey Evans (joe.evans@tamebay.com) for more.

Webinars

Find out more about upcoming InternetRetailing webinars and register for free on the InternetRetailing webinar page. You can also catch up with past webinars on the page: recent sessions have come from IBM Watson on using AI to improve the customer experience, and from SmartFocus and The Entertainer on using social to reach digital customers.