In today’s InternetRetailing newsletter we report as Tesco launches its Clubcard Plus and enables its customers to pay for discounts, both online and in-store, as Homebase gives its staff mobile apps to help them find products for customers, and as John Lewis opens its click and collect network to third-party retailers, starting with Boden. All are examples of how leading UK retailers are connecting with shoppers through a variety of sales channels and in a way that meets customer demand for information and for the best prices, delivered in a convenient way. They’re delivering a step improvement in services they already deliver as they build out multichannel models that already work in order to ensure that they remain competitive in today’s challenging retail environment. And that’s helping them to ensure that they also remain relevant to the customers who have come to expect better-informed – and more connected – service than ever. Other retailers will make the improvements that best serve their customers, and in the light of what the competition is doing. All of this makes for a vibrant and agile retail community that is, by delivering on customer expectations, raising them again.
Today we also report as Carpetright plans for a refinancing – and possible acquisition – that it says will enable it to invest in-store and online, and, from our European coverage, as Berlin-based Zalando sees more than a billion visitors to its website in one quarter for the first time.
Today’s guest comment comes from Or Lenchner of Luminati, who makes the case for IP proxy networks as a way of restoring transparency to the web for shoppers who want to see the most relevant products – and how much they cost.
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