In today’s InternetRetailing newsletter, we take a look at a phenomenon that that is changing the way that we shop – and the way that retailers must prepare themselves. November is fast becoming a month of event shopping. Not only are UK retailers ensuring their systems can withstand the Black Friday rush, but they are also looking further afield to event shopping as far afield as China, where tomorrow’s Singles Day looks likely to be one of the biggest ecommerce spending days ever.
But today we also cover a speech by Dave Lewis, chief executive of Tesco, who highlights the need for digital retail to be profitable as well as selling well: that’s a challenge for the veteran supermarket, which is still the UK’s largest retailer, just as much as it is for retailers of all stripes.
Today’s guest coment stays with the event theme, as Carrenza’s Matt McGrory considers why and how retailers must take action to ensure their systems are strong enough on Black Friday.
We also cover results from IRUK Top500 retailer Lovehoney, noting how the international and the event film, Fifty Shades of Grey, have both contributed to strong lifts in sales and profits, and report on figures out today from the British Retail Consortium, suggesting that shoppers are already shopping online ahead of Christmas.
Our webinars
In today’s webinar, we’re joined by etailer Björn Borg as well as Bronto Software and Vaimo for an in-depth conversation on how to use data to best target your customers and keep them coming back. Björn Borg Unleashes the Power of Data to Engage Customers will be at 1pm on November 10. Visit the Bronto webinar page to find out more, and to register for the free webinar.
Our next webinar will be on November 24, when we’ll be joined by Chris Ross, responsible for corporate business development at Secure Trading, who will be considering how retailers can best prepare for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The payment specialist will be considering issues from website performance and conversion to the customer payment experience, tackling cyber fraud and returns. £1bn in sales by December 1 – are you ready? is at 2.30pm. Find out more about the free event on the Secure Trading webinar page, where you can also register.
Click to visit the Internet Retailing webinars page to catch up on any that you may have missed.
