EDITOR’S COMMENT What are Top500 retailers Zara and Morrisons doing right?

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In the week that it was reported Toys R Us stores are closing in the UK, we report on two happier stories.



Both Zara owner Inditex and UK supermarket Morrisons this week reported growing sales. In Morrisons’ case, a turnaround plan enacted after a period of falling sales seems to be working. Both have taken different strategic approaches. Morrisons has focused on the customer, enabling online shopping but using technology from Ocado and, via a supply relationships, Amazon to do so. Inditex has invested in putting online at the heart of its business.



Both strategies are different, but what they have in common is the recognition that the customer experience must work for customers if it is to work at the bottom line.



Today we also hear from eBay as it uses celebrity shoppable images, and we report on Eptica research that suggests that most people who own a voice commerce device use it neither to browse nor to buy.



In today’s preview of IRX 2018, we hear from Tim Stevens of Find Me A Gift on the current and future challenges of getting delivery right, and we hear from Nicole Crowe of Aptos on what retailers can do to avoid the fate of Toys R Us.



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.

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