Moreover, app users dwelled 50% longer on the Beekman 1802 site. The app also led to a double-digit boost in cart size. Beekman 1802 credits this to My Skin Biome being a “fun and educational tool to help consumers decide on the best skin care products.”

The tool, launched in summer 2022, “assesses skin attributes and then offers a custom skin care routine based on skin’s redness, wrinkles, dark spots, hydration, texture and skin microbiome scores, while teaching users all about the microbiome and why it is important to overall skin health,” Beekman 1802 said.

Consumers can access the My Skin Biome tool, which is a mobile web app, through Beekman1802.com and submit a selfie taken in the app using the mobile phone’s camera. It provides scores based on six different attributes:

• Skin biome
• Texture
• Dark spots
• Wrinkles
• Hydration
• Redness

Users then review their scores on the attributes and select the skin concern they would like to focus on. The app then generates products tailored toward the user’s needs and skin care goals, offering users the ability to add products to their carts.

Beekman 1802 provides a QR code on its desktop website that shoppers can scan to access the My Skin Biome tool on their phones.

My Skin Biome tool empowers Beekman 1802 web traffic, sales

Consumers who use the My Skin Biome tool convert 35% more than those who don’t, Baker said. Furthermore, the average order volume for consumers who use the app is 13% larger than those who don’t. Beekman 1802 saw a 150% increase in pages per session among shoppers who use the My Skin Biome tool, and a 15% reduction in bounce rate.

“We were looking to have a diagnostic tool that would allow our neighbors — that’s what we call our consumers — to more actively take control over what is best for their skin care regimen and for us to provide them with personalized results,” Baker said. “The My Skin Biome app itself allows us to do that because it allows our neighbors to — really quickly with the use of the QR code — scan their face and deliver product recommendations based off of their particular needs.”

The My Skin Biome tool from Beekman 1802 and Perfect Corp. works directly from the website on a user’s mobile phone.

AR/AI in health and beauty

Augmented reality and artificial intelligence are becoming table stakes in the beauty industry, said Wayne Liu, chief growth officer at Perfect Corp., which creates augmented reality and artificial intelligence technology. Perfect Corp. developed the My Skin Biome tool with Beekman 1802.

“Skin care is less AR; it’s more AI because it’s machine learning,” Liu said. “It’s a diagnostics tool. Basically, we have the user scan their face, and then we’ll identify the ‘concern,’ which is the skin care problem from their photo. That’s a machine learning process.”

Extending to makeup, Liu said virtual try-on tools benefit beauty retailers because they save shoppers time and help them make decisions faster. Augmented reality helps shoppers decide what shades and products they like on themselves.

“The more you try, the more you purchase,” Liu said. “Traditionally, you probably can only try one or two colors and it will take probably 20 minutes. Right now, you can try 30 colors within like 30 seconds.”

Beekman 1802 has a physical store with its farm in Sharon Springs, New York, as well as in LaGuardia Airport. It’s also available via Ulta Beauty stores. Ulta is No. 51 in the Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000 database ranking North American online retailers by web sales.

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“We have a Gen Z customer and she wants it, and she wants it now,” Hawkins says. “She is very tech savvy. She wants to check out quickly, and Bolt just lines up with that.”

Bolt refers to Forever 21’s checkout page provider Bolt Financial Inc. The merchant launched the technology in 2019 but has had a turbulent relationship with it. Authentic Brands Group, which owns Forever 21, sued Bolt in March 2022, alleging that Bolt failed to provide its promised technology. In July 2022, the case was settled, and Authentic Brands Group was awarded an undisclosed stake in Bolt.

In a February 2023 phone interview with both Forever 21 and Bolt, Hawkins says, “We have a good partnership right now. And that’s all in the past.” The Bolt spokesperson says, “They are only looking forward.”

In fact, the companies are now touting Forever 21’s positive results from using Bolt: A shopper who checks out with Bolt can complete checkout in 100 seconds, which is 43 seconds faster than the guest checkout on Forever21.com. And that’s “an eternity,” Hawkins says.

“No one wants to go a store and stand in line to check out. And on a website, no one wants to wait a long time,” Hawkins says.

And shoppers leave if it takes too long:

• The cart abandonment rate is 37% for shoppers who used Bolt to check out in 2022, compared with 60% for shoppers who use the guest checkout.
• Put another way: 63% of shoppers who start the checkout process using Bolt finish and make the purchase, compared with just 40% of shoppers who make it to completion using guest checkout.

“The longer time it takes, the fewer people make it through,” Hawkins says.

Digital Commerce 360 data also finds younger shoppers are more likely to abandon their carts compared with other online shoppers. 13% of shoppers ages 18-29 say they’ve abandoned their shopping cart specifically because the process was too long compared with 9% of all online shoppers in the survey, according to a Digital Commerce 360/Bizrate Insights survey of 1,060 online shoppers in January 2023.

Bolt is faster because there are fewer fields to fill out. When a shopper goes to check out on Forever21.com, she enters her email and phone number into the checkout page fields. If she is a previous Bolt shopper, the site recognizes her and sends her a one time pass code via SMS. The shopper enters this code on Forever21.com, her billing and shipping information is populated and she can hit purchase.

For all other shoppers, there are about five steps, including entering billing and shipping information and hitting confirm.

Bolt has “hundreds of online retail” clients that use its checkout service, and so if any shopper has previously checked out on one of those websites, she can check out with Bolt on Forever21.com. The payments vendor says more than 18 million unique shoppers have used its service, but it would not disclose how many active shoppers it has. Many of those accounts were created from shoppers checking out on a site that uses Bolt, and clicking a box to have their payment details saved for future purchases.

Forever 21 offers to save shopper information via Bolt so they can quickly check out for future purchases.

Forever 21’s mobile shoppers

This fast checkout page is especially nice for mobile shoppers, Hawkins says. Mobile sales are the “vast majority” of its online sales, he says without sharing more. Hawkins declined to share what percent of Forever 21’s sales are online, only that it’s a “healthy percent,” growing, and that it is poised to grow more within the next one to two years.

Digital Commerce 360 estimates that roughly 27% of Forever 21’s sales are online, and 75% of its web sales are mobile, according to Top500Guide.com. This mobile penetration is much higher than the median for all retailers ranked in Digital Commerce 360’s Top 1000, among which 58.0% of web sales are from mobile devices.

What’s more, Digital Commerce 360 estimates 41.9% of Forever 21’s online shoppers are ages 18-24, a higher share than the Top 1000, with a 15.5% median of shoppers ages 18-24, according to Top500Guide.com.

Other benefits to using Bolt are that it handles fraud prevention, and the technology has helped it acquire new customers, Hawkins says without sharing specifics.

Forever 21 in the metaverse

Besides a fast checkout, another way Forever 21 has catered to its Gen Z shoppers is by putting its brand in the metaverse.

Forever 21 has launched apparel collections within online gaming platform Roblox, where consumers can purchase Forever 21 apparel for their avatar.

For example, in June 2022, Forever 21 launched a collection with Mattel Inc.’s Barbie brand. Shoppers could buy Barbie-branded apparel for themselves online and in store, and buy 3D versions of that apparel for their avatars in the metaverse in the “Forever 21 Shop City” on Roblox.

It’s important for Forever 21 to market and engage its Gen Z audience in the areas where they spend they spend time, wherever that may be, Hawkins says.

“One of the areas they are spending their time is in the metaverse, and we want to be there and be connecting them, and having those authentic connections that are meaningful,” he says. “It’s a nice area of opportunity.”

Because of good traction on its metaverse products, Forever 21 designed a black beanie that said “Forever 21” on it specifically for the metaverse. The product “exploded” and it sold more than 1 million units digitally, Hawkins says. Because of its success, Forever 21 started selling the beanie physically in store and online in December 2022 and was happy with the results, he says.

“We’re really excited about what we are doing in the metaverse,” Hawkins says. The merchant is laying out a plan for 2023 of other metaverse initiatives, he says.

Forever 21 is No. 121 in the Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000.

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Walmart added a new feature called Be Your Own Model to its website and mobile app. The function allows customers using its iOS mobile app to upload photos of themselves and use the pictures to visualize better how clothing items would look on them. Once a customer saves an image, they can use it to view themselves as the model each time they use the virtual try-on tool. An Android version of Be Your Own Model is coming in a few weeks, Walmart says.

Walmart’s new Be Your Own Model function allows customers to upload photos of themselves and use the photos to visualize better how clothing items would look on them.

The Be Your Own Model tool enhances Walmart’s virtual try-on capability rolled out in March. Initially, shoppers could virtually try on apparel by choosing a pre-loaded virtual model that resembled them. Walmart calls that feature Choose Your Model. Technology from Zeekit, a virtual fitting-room vendor Walmart acquired last year, powers Walmart’s virtual try-on functionality.

Brock McKeel, senior vice president of site experience in Walmart’s ecommerce operation, says enhancing the virtual try-on experience is about giving shoppers more confidence when they buy online.

“We are really excited about this,” McKeel says.

He says seeing a representation of themselves in outfits will give shoppers more faith in their decisions. It also could reduce returns, which he says are costly for the retailer and inconvenient for customers.

“We want to make sure that when they buy, what they buy fits appropriately [and] it is what they thought they were buying,” McKeel says.

The goal, he says, is to reduce friction in the purchase process and keep customers coming back. The Be Your Own Model feature is now available on more than 270,000 items. That includes some items on the Walmart Marketplace, Walmart says.

Additional website changes

For grocery shoppers, McKeel says, the retailer made website and app improvements to make shopping easier for customers using government benefits. He says site improvements make it easier for shoppers to know whether grocery items are eligible for purchase using electronic benefits transfer (EBT) cards. EBT cards allow Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants to pay for food using SNAP benefits.

Walmart has been part of the United States Department of Agriculture’s SNAP Online Purchasing program since 2019.

McKeel says Walmart also refreshed its online gift registry process. Upgrades include new recommended items, available on the web and coming soon to the registry on the retailer’s mobile app. Improvements will soon include a new Scan to Add. This feature will allow customers to scan in-store items using the Walmart app and add them directly to a registry.

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Josh Fischer

In our rapidly changing digital economy, retailers and B2B ecommerce companies face many challenges, including maintaining inventory, intense online competition, and concerns with market uncertainty and rising inflation. Additionally, a leading challenge that is rarely discussed is employee recruitment, staffing, and retention.

Consider that 47 million people quit their jobs last year, resulting in a severe staffing shortage for businesses across industries. Nearly 60% of job openings in both the wholesale and retail sector and durable goods manufacturing were left unfilled, per data from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The data showed the wholesale and retail industry also experienced a “quit rate” of 3.3% in 2022, while durable goods manufacturing saw 2.1%.

The labor market’s complexities have left business leaders seeking ways to maintain and improve their operations while dealing with reduced staff. After all, you can’t hire employees that don’t desire to fill open positions.

Fortunately for merchants, another option is available. Intelligent business management software and automated technologies are helping drive retail success, enabling more modern workflows and agile business operations.

How Automation Helps Merchants Navigate Labor Shortages

Businesses are leveraging automated technologies, such as cloud ERP solutions, helping them manage accounting, finances, and projects and navigate today’s market challenges. A survey commissioned by software company UiPath found that nearly 80% of responding companies affected by labor shortages will invest in automation to offset the lack of workers.

By automating processes, companies can do more with less. For instance, implementing automated processes can allow B2B manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers to streamline tasks such as product data entry, fulfilling customer orders, inventory synchronization, and returns management without making additional hires. Automating these workflows helps increase efficiency by eliminating error-prone manual methods.

In addition, business management software and cloud ERP solutions enhance collaboration across the organization. By implementing intelligent business management software, businesses can gather and sync data from every department into a centralized database that delivers real-time data. As a result, the business can streamline workflows, automate business processes, and integrate disparate systems. Ultimately, companies can enable their existing talent to boost efficiency.

While automation requires fewer associates, it empowers and fulfills the experience of existing employees by equipping them with better tools and information. In other words, it’s an investment in your existing talent. Providing them with better tools allows employees to have satisfying workplace and customer interactions, enhance their workplace experience, and boost morale.

However, to be effective, business management software must engage the frontline workers and be easy for employees to understand, especially given the current high pace of turnover. Simply put, you don’t want to spend too much time training employees to utilize a complex automated technology if the industry turnover rate indicates a limited span of engagement.

Adapt to the Changing Industry with a Business Management Platform

Not only are retail companies facing a complex labor market, but they’re also dealing with an ever-evolving industry.

We regularly hear the word “disruption” when discussing the many industries that have been impacted by new technology. But no industry has been impacted quite like retail and B2B commerce.

What used to be a brick-and-motor industry is now an online-first industry. Shoppers scour the internet for the best deals and prices. Buying online and picking up in-store has become so common it received its own acronym: BOPIS. This new norm has deviated far from the historic definition of “retail,” and it’s not unique to B2C retailers.

B2B companies are realizing their buyers want the same online experiences when buying business-oriented goods. They want online resources and product information, self-service purchasing tools, customer pricing, and personalized experiences. Not to mention the rapid adoption of B2B companies (especially manufacturers) selling direct-to-consumer (D2C).

Customers expect merchants to keep pace with these breakneck-speed changes. How is it possible for these merchants to grow when faced with so much chaos? The answer for merchants is multi-faceted, yet simple:

1. Create outstanding customer experiences throughout every form of engagement
2. Maximize the number of channels in which your products can be found
3. Build a community around your buyers and convert your customers into loyal fans
4. Optimize and automate your back-office tasks (e.g., customer engagement, order fulfillment, returns, inventory management, and timely replenishments)
5. Continue to recruit new buyers while you draw existing customers back for recurring purchases

Digital natives have led the charge in adopting and utilizing new tools such as Shopify and BigCommerce to elevate customer engagement and experiences. However, this new generation of commerce leaders don’t have experience in supply chain and inventory management. Rather, they are community builders who identify the products that their audience desires, then use modern tools to connect the two.

Often, smaller merchants begin by selling products out of their garage or spare bedroom; but as they build their customer base, they experience an increase in sales across a range of channels. As a result, merchants must determine how to organize their business in a way that enables them to scale and manage higher volumes of orders, transactions, and customers.

Enter a business management platform.

With a business management platform, merchants can organize, automate, and efficiently operate their back-office operations. More specifically, these systems balance back-office workflow management (e.g., inventory, accounting, order fulfillments, etc.) with front-office tasks like customer experience. Merchants gain a better understanding of the supply chain and distribution process through data and analytics, enabling them to reach more customers.

Retail and B2B commerce will continue to be redefined. In the coming years, we’ll see technology like VR and AR change digital and physical purchasing experiences. We’ll see AI guide buyers through their purchasing decisions for appliances and help them purchase replacement parts and supplies autonomously. We’ll see the metaverse change what we think of as “retail stores.” Due to the newfound commoditization of online shopping, in-person stores will likely transition into more experience-based locations and distribution centers littered with technology that knows who customers are and what they’re interested in purchasing.

Digital technologies and cloud-based business management solutions will help merchants evolve with the shifting landscape and empower employees with tools and information that enable efficiency. The forward-thinking merchants that dare to implement these technologies will drive commerce success now and in the future.

About the Author:

Josh Fischer is director of product management, retail-commerce, at Acumatica, a provider of cloud-based enterprise resource planning technology. Follow him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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The Meta Store will open May 9 in Burlingame, California, and showcase the company’s hardware products. Meta encourages visitors to “interact with everything” including the Portal video calling hub, Quest 2 virtual reality goggles and Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses. Meta also added an ecommerce store to Meta.com, where consumers can buy those products directly from Meta online.

Tech firms have regularly set up — then shut down — physical shops. In 2020, Microsoft Corp. said it would shut down its store locations permanently but continue to invest in online sales. In March Amazon.com Inc. said it would close its physical bookstores, “Amazon 4-Star” locations and mall pop-up kiosks as the world’s largest online retailer narrows its brick-and-mortar push to the grocery sector.

Meta and EssilorLuxottica SA, the world’s biggest eyewear company, teamed up to produce Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses.

Not sharing plans for future stores

“The best way to understand virtual reality is to experience it,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said as part of the announcement. Meta previously tested this through pop-up shops in various locations. The company declined to share any plans for future stores.

Jennifer Stevenson, head of product strategy for location-based marketing firm Uberall Inc. says opening a store offers multiple benefits to Meta. First, she says, it allows the social media giant to introduce its virtual- and augmented-reality products to consumers in an interactive and entertaining manner.

“Furthermore, [Meta] can reach customers who are skeptical of these advanced, interactive technologies and showcase the benefits of these devices in-person. Honest feedback from consumers will also give Meta much-needed information about which products are working and which need to be improved,” Stevenson says.

“In addition, Meta is offering a ‘Shop’ tab to its website, making it easier to find all its products in one place online. This is a smart move because it offers consumers who may still be wary about in-store shopping the digital option to review these products from the comfort of their own home,” she added.

Over the past year, Meta has increasingly focused on the metaverse — a future version of the internet made up of immersive worlds accessible via headsets — which Zuckerberg thinks is the next major computing revolution after mobile phones. The company changed its name from Facebook to Meta in October to underscore the dedication to its investment.

Meta has explored partnering with EssilorLuxottica SA, the world’s biggest eyewear company, to sell its headgear. The two firms teamed up to produce Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses, which were sold in some of the Franco-Italian company’s 8,000 retail outlets globally.

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Snap Inc. has been training businesses to introduce products via camera overlays in its Snapchat app, so users can digitally try on a new lipstick shade or style of shoe. Now the company says businesses can add more information on top of their augmented reality advertisements, such as item descriptions, prices and links to purchase. The new feature will also enable brands to receive more granular analytics about which products are gaining attention in real time, the company said Wednesday in a blog post.

Snapchat, a mobile app that caters to users in their teens and 20s, has been investing in augmented reality to offer more creative shopping experiences. As the spread of COVID-19 kept many would-be shoppers at home, advertisers accelerated their experiments with the format. Santa Monica, California-based Snap Inc. reports its earnings February 3.

According to Digital Commerce 360’s Digital Marketing June 2021 survey of 143 retailers, 19% of retailers said they plan to increase their advertising budget on social platforms by more than 50%. Only 9% of retailers said they use Snapchat to advertise, an increase of 4% compared with 2020.

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The 1,500 square-foot (139 square-meter) salon is set in London’s Spitalfields neighborhood, the company said in a blog post on Tuesday. Customers will be able to try out new hair colors virtually and “capture their new look in a dedicated creative area,” the company said. Visitors will also be able to order products in the salon via Amazon by scanning QR codes.

In recent years, Amazon has started a range of brick-and-mortar formats, including cashierless convenience stores, a supermarket chain, book shops and stores selling a potpourri of bestselling items. The company often launches experiments, learns from them and then moves on—sometimes folding the expertise into new projects or abandoning the idea entirely. With no current plans to open additional locations, Amazon may consider the salon as one of its signature tests.

London is just beginning to ease COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, with salons reopening in England on April 12. Amazon salon customers will be offered free face masks and sanitizer, temperature checks and the venue will operate at a reduced capacity.

The salon will be open to Amazon employees initially before expanding reservations to the general public in “the coming weeks.”

Amazon is No. 1 in the 2020 Digital Commerce 360 Top 500.

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“We have spent significant time over the past year dreaming up ways to better serve our bride as she plans and prepares for her wedding,” says Jim Marcum, CEO of David’s Bridal. “Our goal with Diamond is to give her and her bridal party value she can’t find anywhere else, whether she is looking for additional ways to save, access to partners, or is coveting a one-of-a-kind getaway.”

Members earn one diamond point for every $1 spent with David’s Bridal both in-store and online on products such as wedding gowns, bridesmaids’ dresses, accessories and alterations. The loyalty program has four tiers: Welcome, 0–2,999 points; Shimmer, 3,000-3,999 points; Shine, 4,000–4,999 points; and Sparkle, 5,000+ points.

Each level unlocks free gifts from David’s Bridal and other businesses it works with, such as a free tote full of products for a honeymoon, luxury handbags and accessories, deals with hotels and resorts for honeymoon destinations, among other rewards. The Sparkle level rewards the member with a free honeymoon package, which can be chosen from one of David’s Bridal’s resort and hotel partners.

In addition, each member has her own loyalty code that she can share with friends and family, such as her bridal party, to use to earn points throughout the wedding planning process.

“It really allows the bride to create her own community for the wedding and have that community contribute towards her loyalty points,” says a spokeswoman for David’s Bridal.

David’s Bridal says it decided to launch the program during the holidays because it is a key time for engagements. About 40% of engagements occur between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day, according to The Knot’s 2017 Jewelry & Engagement Study. And David’s Bridal says its peak sales season is usually after the new year when brides begin planning their weddings following these engagements.

A loyalty program isn’t the only feature the merchant has recently added to connect with its shoppers. David’s Bridal recently integrated site features like augmented reality and virtual appointments to accommodate shoppers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

2023 Web Design & Customer Experience Report

Analysis of web design, online shopping innovations, and consumer perception. Includes over 20 charts, data on the web features and functions used by Top 1000 retailers, and trends in customer service, AI, mobile and search.  

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Since launching AR in September, David’s Bridal says it has had a 30% lift in ecommerce transactions for shoppers that use the AR feature. The retailer also says that transactions increase 30% and appointment bookings increase 100% after a consumer uses the AR tool.

“Our digital-first initiatives address both the shift in consumer behavior from COVID, as well as the natural evolution of consumers looking for innovative, efficient and personalized ways to shop,” says a spokeswoman.

David’s Bridal says it has more plans in development for 2021 that incorporate technology to create a more personalized experience for the customer, but the retailer declined to reveal specifics at this time.

David’s Bridal is No. 476 in the 2020 Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000.

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For example, features like augmented reality (AR) and 3D imaging are becoming vital ways retailers bring the in-store experience into consumers’ homes via technology on their mobile devices or desktop computers.

2023 Web Design & Customer Experience Report

Analysis of web design, online shopping innovations, and consumer perception. Includes over 20 charts, data on the web features and functions used by Top 1000 retailers, and trends in customer service, AI, mobile and search.  

View Details

13.0% of the top 100 retailers ranked in the Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000 have virtual reality (VR) or AR capabilities on their ecommerce sites or in their apps, according to Digital Commerce 360’s analysis of site visit data conducted in October 2020. And other retailers in the Top 1000 are adding this function as the need for shoppers to visualize or try on products at home instead of shopping in-store becomes more of the norm.

Tenth Street Hats implemented augmented reality vendor Vertebrae’s try-on technology in September 2018. Tenth Street Hats is the ecommerce site for hat wholesaler and distributor Dorfman Pacific Inc. Since implementing it, the online hat retailer has increased its conversion rate by 115% and increased its revenue per user by 110% for those shoppers who engage with the tool, says CEO Carson Finkle.

Additionally, Tenth Street Hats has more than doubled its revenue growth in October 2020 year over year, he says. Finkle credits some of that lift to the AR functionality, as 43% of site visitors engage with the AR tool.

“AR definitely plays a hand in it, but I don’t think it’s the sole reason why we’ve grown,” Finkle says. “But we’re continually finding a way to create a good experience online, which gives us a good bump.”

Enhancing the virtual customer shopping experience

AR technology is just one way retailers can help shoppers re-create the in-store experience. But it might not be enough. Some shoppers need that extra help via customer service. According to the Digital Commerce 360 conversion survey of 105 retailers conducted in early 2020, 37% of retailers rated integrated customer service as especially crucial for improving one’s conversion rate. And 41% said customer experience is an important investment to make to drive online conversion.

Retailers attempt to provide excellent customer service by adding such things as live chat and virtual appointments to their ecommerce sites to assist shoppers more efficiently. 49.2% of the Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000 retailers use live chat to advance the shopper experience. And 73 of the top 100 also have added the functionality, as of our website visits in October. However, just 25% of retailers in the top 100 of Digital Commerce 360’s Top 1000 offer virtual appointments or consultations.

“A strong customer experience can serve as the foundation for improving conversion as both initial experience and retention prospects both matter,” says Lauren Freedman, senior consumer insights analyst at Digital Commerce 360.

Home improvement retailer Coburn Supply Co. was able to remain open during the start of the pandemic as it was deemed an essential business because of its B2B functionality. But it chose to enhance its online capabilities by adding a virtual showroom to its ecommerce site to allow shoppers who did not feel comfortable coming to the showroom to still shop and purchase with the help of an associate.

“We understood the importance of these customers seeing the products they were interested in for their kitchen and bath projects,” says Jessica Stelly, web operations manager for the retailer.

Each category showroom—such as kitchen, bath, HVAC—has its own landing page with a form the shopper can fill out to set up an appointment. An associate then walks them through the showroom to view products and helps them complete their purchase online.

“Although most customers like to come inside to touch and feel the products, the option of virtual appointments was very helpful to keep our customers’ showroom appointments more personalized during social distancing protocols,” Stelly says.

The retailer chose to enhance its ecommerce capabilities mostly due to the pandemic, but also because it experienced a 55% increase in ecommerce sales from 2018 to 2019, and a 40% increase in contractor sales originating from its website and mobile app. Stelly says this trend will continue in 2020.

“Our customers see us evolving to make it easier to do business with and we are meeting them wherever they are on their technology journey,” she says.

The 2021 Web Design & Customer Experience Report includes new insights into the web design and features retailers are using, the online shopping innovations many are making, and consumer perception of website functionality while shopping online. Here’s what’s included in the report:

• Data on the web features and functions used by Top 1000 retailers.
• Customer service trends that retailers include on their website, including live chat and virtual appointments.
• How COVID-19 has driven retailers to add new site features to better connect with shoppers.
• Analysis on ecommerce site visits to the top 100 retailers.
• Consumer insights on online shopping preferences.
• Interviews with Top 1000 retailers on what is working in web design.
• More than 20 detailed charts and graphs.

The 2021 Web Design & Customer Experience Report can be downloaded now as a PDF for $399. Digital Commerce 360 Gold and Platinum Members receive a complimentary copy of this report as a part of their membership.

The post Top 1000 retailers add site features to aid the shopper experience appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

The store enables shoppers to virtually peruse, add items to their carts and purchase the home goods retailer’s more than 550 holiday products. Shoppers can access the virtual store from the Cost Plus World Market homepage—or via worldmarket.com/virtual-store. Cost Plus Word Market operates an ecommerce site, where consumers can browse by category or with the search box, as is typical for online shopping. The virtual shop digitizes in-store merchandising at a time when consumers may be hesitant to visit stores.

Cost Plus World Market tapped virtual experience vendor Rightpoint to create the virtual store, built on virtual tour software platform Matterport. The retailer declined to reveal the cost of the new feature.

“We wanted to harness the power of our joyful holiday retail experience and bring these moments to life for our customers from the comfort of their couches,” says Adrian Stevens, senior vice president, chief marketing officer, head of ecommerce and digital strategy at Cost Plus World Market. “Rightpoint has been a valued partner to help us bring this to life—from strategy and vision to execution.”

The virtual holiday store is a 360-degree capture of Cost Plus World’s physical environment, ported into a digital experience. It allows customers to navigate through the aisles and shop for products, says Tom Quish, senior vice president and head of design at Rightpoint. Shoppers can browse and buy via their web browsers, but it also works using virtual reality headsets. Shoppers can navigate the aisles by clicking on circles on the floor, similar to how Google Maps’ “street view” works.  To view products, they click on a snowflake icon that displays product information and enables them to add the item to their cart and purchase.

It took about eight weeks from the initial concept to launch the virtual store, Quish says. The vendor chose to use Matterport’s platform because it afforded Rightpoint the ability to implement more customization to achieve Cost Plus World Market’s desired customer experience, he says.

The retailer developed the holiday store based on shopper feedback. Cost Plus World Market learned that its customers like to browse its selection rather than going out for one needed item. While the site does not mirror any particular location, it reflects the retailer’s typical seasonal areas, Stevens says.

The virtual holiday store is part of an effort to boost holiday sales, Quish says. “The level of customization, in combination with the ability to shop holiday categories and products while being inspired by seasonal collections, makes this an experience unlike any other.”

So far, Cost Plus World has had an “incredible early response,” Stevens says. Traffic and engagement are both exceeding expectations for the retailer. Shoppers are spending more time on its site and making purchases via the virtual store, he says without revealing specifics.

Shoppers share their experience browsing Cost Plus World Market’s virtual holiday store.

“We hope to continue to see usage through the holiday season, given the initial customer excitement,” Stevens says. “It will be one of the ways we continue to encourage our customers to stay safe amid the pandemic, along with our contactless curbside pickup and thorough store safety procedures.”

Cost Plus World Market already has its next virtual store in the works for the spring and is considering launching an “always-on” variation of the store for its non-seasonal products, Steven says.

Cost Plus World Market is owned by Bed Bath & Beyond, No. 58 in the 2020 Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000.

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