EDITORIAL From Amazon to Quiz and Joules: how retailers are adapting to the way customers buy

In today’s InternetRetailing newsletter we report on the latest updates on the peak trading period. Today we look at the data to explore the shape of the cyber weekend just gone, and look ahead to just how late Amazon is enabling shoppers to buy this Christmas. This is an example of how a retailer is responding to customer demand. Granted, relatively few people may want to buy stuffing or wrapping paper at 10.30pm on Christmas Eve, and fewer still will want to pay £7.99 to have them delivered, but the retailer is making it possible for those who do, albeit within selected geographical areas.

Keeping on this theme, we also report as Quiz and Joules take action to respond to how shoppers want to buy from them. Joules is looking to open more shops ahead of Christmas, saying that after a challenging September, sales picked up both online and in-store. Clearly it believes its shoppers are keen to come into store and buy from it. Elsewhere, Quiz is looking carefully at the way it balances its sales channels after a first half of its financial year in which sales made via stores fell while online sales stayed flat. For both retailers, understanding how their shoppers want to buy is key to remaining relevant.

Retailers of all sizes are also transforming the way they do business as they look to cater to shoppers changing buying habits. Dunelm said this week that it had completed its shift to its new digital platform – a move initiated in 2016 as it looked to boost its online business – while Ikea is backing a returns management start-up as part of its shift to a circular business model. 

In a timely guest comment, Lee Metters of Domino asks how companies can use technology to understand and respond to the way their customers buy.

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