The Threat And Opportunity Of Mobile: How Physical Retailers Can Fight Back Against Amazon

Awkward! The National Retail Federation, which is dominated by traditional brick-and-mortar-based stores, just gave its top award to the guy who has been undermining their businesses for years. By the holiday shopping season of 2011, it was clear that Amazon.com could not remotely still be considered a plucky upstart in the retail world.

Neither Amazon nor any online seller can expect consumers to keep using their sites for holiday purchases simply out of habit. Brick-and-mortar stores have had plenty of time to strategize ways to counter the rise of “showrooming” and increased online shopping in general, which was the most noticeable trend of the 2011 holiday season. In the weeks leading up to Black Friday 2012, the hottest retail stories have involved efforts by physical retailers to battle back against Amazon and other online sellers with fee-free layaway, price-matching guarantees, and such.

First and foremost, big brick-and-mortar retailers want to drive foot traffic into stores during the holiday period. But even when it comes to the old-fashioned department store model, retailers understand that boosting online sales is essential. The vast majority of retail sales still take place in physical stores. E-retail, however, is where the biggest potential for growth exists. While most anticipate that the increase in physical store sales will be modest for Black Friday and the rest of the holiday period, e-retail sales are expected to grow by an impressive 17%.

What did the 2012 holidays teach us about the current state of shoppers—and, of course, the places where they shop? Here are 10 notable trends. The Expansion of Black Friday—and the Entire Season Even though it has caused a backlash among certain consumers, retailers have concluded that the formula for increasing seasonal sales totals is mostly based on increasing holiday promotions, deals, and store hours—hours that now include Thanksgiving night. Not only is it standard for stores to open by 8 p.m. or 9 p.m.

What did the 2012 holidays teach us about the current state of shoppers—and, of course, the places where they shop? Here are 10 notable trends. The Expansion of Black Friday—and the Entire Season Even though it has caused a backlash among certain consumers, retailers have concluded that the formula for increasing seasonal sales totals is mostly based on increasing holiday promotions, deals, and store hours—hours that now include Thanksgiving night. Not only is it standard for stores to open by 8 p.m. or 9 p.m.

TechCrunch submits: By Leena Rao

“I give them two years before they’re turning out the lights on a very painful and expensive mistake…” That’s a quote from a pessimistic analyst in a Bloomberg Op-Ed dated May 20, 2001 — just one day after Apple opened its first retail locations.

As a larger and larger portion of retail sales in the U.S. move online, customer service has become essential to e-commerce businesses that want to attract shoppers and keep them.