Social Commerce Disappoints This Holiday Shopping Season, But Still Shows Promise

On the one hand, Baynote’s recent Holiday Shopping Experience Survey showed that 80 percent of consumers were not influenced by social networks over the holidays. On the other hand, 20 percent reported purchasing a product on a retail website after receiving a special offer or promotion on Facebook. While these numbers certainly didn’t live up [...]

The State of Mobile Phone vs. Tablet Shopping

If you’ve joined us lately, you are aware that we’re running a series of blogs on our annual holiday shopping survey*. As the highest ranking year yet for online sales with over 35 billion in revenue, it’s understandable retailers are eager to find new ways to enhance the customer experience through technology. Mobile is at the top of many e-commerce executives’ lists. But where and how should they invest? And from a consumer standpoint, who is making the purchase: the on-the-run mobile phone shopper or the couch-surfing tablet enthusiast? (more…)

The Future of M-commerce = The Tablet

As I mentioned in my last post introducing our 2nd Annual Holiday Online Shopping Experience Survey, we are doing a series of more detailed blogs on some of the study’s major themes.

First up: tablets.

When we received the initial results, one of the very first things that popped out at us was how many tablet owners bought products with their devices this year. Not just researched with, but actually purchased.

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Intent to Buy Cartoon #5: Email Offer

This is the fifth in Baynote’s ten-part series of cartoons by award-winning cartoonist Tom Fishburne, titled “Intent to Buy”. We’ve received some great feedback from you on our cartoons, so please continue to let us know what you think! To say thanks for your input, we’ll send you a print signed by [...]

We Took a Giant Bite of the Big Apple; Day Two Highlights from NRF 2012

It’s the second and final day of NRF’s Big Show in New York City and industry experts are spending much of the day looking into their crystal balls and talking about the future, with today’s docket including sessions like “What the Next Five Years of Retail Will be About” and “Retail 2020″. Here are some of today’s highlights:

Keeping up with the Millennials. The next-generation consumer is today’s 15-year-old kid, and their generation will expect the customer experience to be customized based on their history, preferences, social graph, intent and location. As if that weren’t enough, Millennials want to be an active participant in the manipulation of the experience. If they can’t interact with the brand in a customized manner, they’ll discard it and move on to a competitor.

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NRF Big Show 2012 – Day One Highlights from the Show Floor

The Baynote team is onsite at THE retail event of the year, The National Retail Federation’s Annual Big Show in New York City. Here’s a recap of today’s highlights from the Big Apple.

Hail to the Chief –  Make that former Chief. Bill Clinton presented to a packed house this morning, providing his take on the current state of economic conditions. A baby boomer, the former President says his generation never had to worry about making a living until now. (more…)

Did Retailers Make the Grade? Baynote Presents Results of Its 2nd Annual Holiday Online Shopping Experience Survey

I’m excited to share results today from Baynote’s 2nd Annual Holiday Online Shopping Experience Survey. With so much hype around emerging channels, our survey shows online retailers which of them actually delivered the best online experience according to the shoppers themselves.  We’ve also addressed the hype surrounding some of the most talked about topics in [...]

New Year, New Heights: My Predictions for Personalization in 2012

In 2011, we saw a real shift across the industry in perceptions surrounding personalization. What was considered a “nice to have” just a few years back is now a requirement for any successful online strategy. Yet while half of retailers think they’ve got personalization mastered, most of them are in fact approaching it in fundamentally the wrong way. Retailers still rely too heavily on past purchases and customer profile data, giving an online experience based on what the shopper has done in the past – not what they are doing in the moment. In the coming year, the savviest retailers will be those that prioritize personalization based on in-the-moment intent. Here’s how we see personalization maturing in the New Year. (more…)