In today’s InternetRetailing newsletter, we report on the Easter effect on retail sales. Warm weather, it seems, combined with a few days off propelled many shoppers onto the high streets, while online buying continued to grow, but at a slower rate, according to figures from both BRC and Barclaycard.
Reasons, then, to be cheerful about the role of stores in 21st century Britain. But there’s still plenty of reason to be cheerful about online and multichannel shopping. This is, after all, simply the distillation of what’s most convenient, and attractive, for consumers at any given point.
As if to illustrate that point, today we report on how retailers such as holiday specialist Tui Travel are moving towards that combination of the digital and physical worlds that is more likely to give consumers what they want.
We also report on how suppliers are developing the infrastructure that a convenience-driven shopping requires, with news of CollectPlus’ planned expansion that, it says, will see it rival the Post Office.
Elsewhere today we also have news of Sir Philip Green’s investment in MySale, of Dutch fashion search engine Fashiola’s UK launch, and of the new .luxury domain name.
Click to read more on our current research and events, including our third annual Internet Retailing Awards.
Our webinars
On May 20, Amplience founder and chief executive James Brooke leads a hands-on webinar that will show how retailers from Tesco to L’Oreal are using rich and dynamic media to create compelling shopping experiences. Amplience: Customer experience masterclass takes place at 2pm on May 20. Click here to find out more and register for the free event.
And on May 21, Jim Davidson, managing of marketing research at Bronto, will host a webinar demystifying the responsive design for marketing messages. Bronto: The responsive inbox: marketing to multidevice consumers takes place at 2pm on May 21. Click here for more information and to register for free.
Click to visit the Internet Retailing webinars page to find out about any upcoming webinars and to catch up on any that you may have missed.
Our awards
Judges for the 2014 Internet Retailing Awards will soon be considering their shortlist. Last year the winners of these multichannel and ecommerce industry awards included Tesco, Burberry, Asos, Lakeland, eBay, Amazon, Oasis/Warehouse and LoveHoney, who celebrated their wins at a rooftop party in the middle of the City. Who will take this year’s titles? Shortlist will be announced in the May issue of the magazine with the winners revealed at an exclusive event at One Mayfair on Thursday June 26. Click here for more information or to buy a ticket to the event.
Catch-up on IRX 2014
If you missed an Internet Retailing Expo 2014 presentation that you’d like to catch up on, you can do so now through the post-event website. Visitors to www.internetretailingexpo.com can access all the presentations that we’ve been given permission to share with our audiences.
