Webloyalty news and archive

The AI Arms Race: Fashion giants leaping ahead

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is on the rise as retailers race to create the most engaging, personalized experiences for customers. In fact, AI in the industry is expected to exceed 8 billion US dollars by 2024. This year’s Digital Innovations Report has shown that retailers across all sectors are adopting AI to their advantage, including...

RetailFeatured

Five smart new ways to avoid online cart abandonment

Recent research from ContentSquare has revealed that the most frequently abandoned online shopping cart item is clothing, with 40 per cent of purchases being discarded at checkout. Coming above technology and homeware purchases (18 and 16 per cent respectively) this is clearly an area that needs attention from the fashion industry. When online...

RetailFeatured

4 ways to rethink fashion retail in mobile

Written by Michelle Fotopoulou, Director of Mobile Marketing, Webloyalty Before the advent of e-commerce, it was difficult to imagine buying clothing online. Without the feel of the fabric, the visceral experience of the fit of a shirt or trousers, how could a customer make an educated decision on their purchase? That seemed pretty extreme, but...

BusinessFeatured

Bringing online shopping to (real) life

It’s the challenge of our times for retailers: you have a physical store and an optimised website, with customers who move fluidly between the two. So how do you merge the two? As consumers have embraced online shopping because of the ease and convenience it offers, bricks and mortar shops have increasingly become where people go to discover and...

BusinessFeatured

Rising costs and falling profits: how can retailers fight the margin squeeze?

The past decade has seen incredible transformation in the retail industry. The boom in e-commerce has been a catalyst for change. Where, and how customers shop has altered beyond recognition. The fast pace shows no sign of abating. This has not been without its challenges. Under pressure to deliver across multiple channels and fulfil customer...

Business

2/3 of UK retailers use secondary revenues against margin squeeze

Two-thirds of UK retailers are using secondary revenue methods to tackle margin squeeze and boost their profitability according to new research from Webloyalty and the British Retail Consortium (BRC). As more and more retailers across the country are faced with shifting consumer shopping habits, increasing costs following the drop of the pound...

RetailFeatured

Rise of the machines: what to expect from AI in 2017

The last year has been characterised by uncertainty, unpredictability and change both on a global political scene and in retailing. In particular, technology has been developing at such an accelerated pace that what’s cutting edge in January becomes old news by June. Nowhere has this been more notable than in the retail sector. 2016 saw some...

RetailFeatured

An evolving industry: emerging trends in festive fashion retail

The festive shopping season is traditionally the busiest time of year for retailers, both online and on the high street. Last year however, fashion retailers were caught out by a blast of unseasonal weather and saw a significant fall in sales volume, down 4.2 percent compared to 2014. According to the Office for National Statistics, this decline...

Business|IN-DEPTH Featured

Black Friday 2016 to be the biggest yet - but will it deliver on all its promises?

London - Black Friday - the day which usually comes after Thanksgiving in the United States and sees retailers kick-off their promotional offers in the run up to Christmas - is either a hated or beloved event. As awareness for the borrowed shopping event continues to grow, conflicting reports concerning the big day emerge from retail research...

RetailFeatured

Managing profitability during changing seasons

The seasons are changing and Autumn is finally here, but over the past couple of months, many fashion retailers have faced hard times as warmer weather has kept consumers out of shops. So how do you manage profitability during seasonal changes, especially when they can be so volatile? Reports from BDO show that high street sales dropped by 2.8...

RetailFeatured

What are fashion retailers doing to attract more customers?

This year, we’ve seen a number of major fashion retailers close their doors because of sales declines and shrinking margins. Among them were the value shoe retailer, Brantano; young fashion retailer, Blue Inc; and of course, BHS, which has been on the UK’s high street since 1928. According to the British Retail Consortium’s Footfall and...

Retail

Consumers not satisfied with shopping experience

According to a new report into UK buying habits, almost 75 percent of UK consumers are “dissatisfied” with some aspect of the shopping experience, with a third finding shopping to be far less enjoyable than it was five years ago. These findings in the Unfaithful Consumer report, commissioned by Webloyalty and carried out by retail research...