This week, the holiday shopping season is top of mind…

Listrak Presents at UPS Virtual Event

The UPS “Future Proof Your Business” virtual event held last week was a hit with attendees, who were small business owners. The event was done in partnership with New York Urban League Small Business Solutions Center and included a presentation from Listrak — who has been a member of the UPS Digital Connections program since 2015.

Listrak’s session, titled, “Are You Tricking or Treating Your Business — Future Proof Your Business” was presented by Erin Grogan, director of strategic partnerships at Listrak, and who was revenue strategy manager at UPS prior to joining Listrak. Grogan discussed the importance and tenure of the UPS and Listrak partnership as well as the essentials of email/SMS marketing for any size business. She also presented key points from Listrak’s holiday trends report and how they can be leveraged this holiday season. Grogan also reviewed key shipping dates and how businesses can use them to create touchpoints with their clients via their email/SMS and social strategy. She also gave an overview of the resources available on Listrak’s holiday resource guide/center as well as other free resources to help support entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Entrepreneur Jamela Mack said the event and Listrak seminar was wonderful. “They provided tools that made me feel like becoming a successful entrepreneur is actually attainable,” Mack said. “They pointed out many of the details, such as freight services, that many new business owners may not think of. I’m grateful for the information and will incorporate some of it into my business plan.”

It’s Time to Be Clear

Fresh consumer research from Reshop and Narvar revealed the need for clarity on options in the post-purchase shopping experience. The survey found that 58 of shoppers expect their refund “within a day of requesting a return, however, the reality is that most refunds take days or even weeks to process,” said a spokesperson, adding that while some shoppers don’t even realize how long it can take, “69 percent of people say they’ve had to contact a retailer about the status of their refund after making a return.”

The report, titled, “The Importance of Post-Purchase Choice This Holiday Season,” was done to reveal key insights on how to leverage flexible return and refund options to drive conversion and customer loyalty. Findings include that 75 percent of respondents consumers say that faster refunds makes them more likely to shop again with a retailer or brand.

The survey also found that 82 percent of shoppers polled said having multiple return options makes them more likely to make an online purchase during the holidays. “This underscores the heightened importance of flexibility and choice during the holidays, where offering a variety of return options can significantly influence purchasing decisions,” the report’s authors said.

“And it’s not just returns overall where consumers are demanding choice,” the report noted. “Having options in how they get their refund back when making a return matters to their buying decisions, as well.” The research found that 78 percent of shoppers polled “say it’s valuable to have the ability to choose between receiving a refund, store credit or an exchange when returning a product this holiday.”

Why offer flexibility? Because it can pay off in the long run. The report’s authors said beyond the initial purchase, providing customers with choices “during their return experience significantly enhances their overall brand experience, influencing their decision to shop again. This, in turn, helps build the elusive long-term loyalty that retailers strive for.”

In Other Narvar News…

Narvar has announced Jim Emerich’s return as its chief financial officer. “Emerich initially worked with Narvar in an informal advisory role following the company’s Series A funding round, helping lay the foundation for its early financial structure and growth,” the company said adding that after a brief hiatus “where he deepened his experience and expertise in leveraging AI to enhance business efficiencies and improve the customer experience, Emerich will spearhead Narvar’s financial strategy and operations.”

Emerich reports directly to Anisa Kumar, Narvar’s recently announced chief executive officer. Kumar said Emerich’s “extensive experience and deep connection to Narvar make him the perfect choice to lead our financial strategy as we enter our next phase of growth. His return comes at a critical time as we continue to innovate and scale our business globally.”

In a statement, Narvar said Emerich has more than three decades of experience “leveraging his financial and business expertise to scale technology companies through organic growth, mergers and acquisitions, and IPOs. His track record of delivering predictable financial performance and his sharp focus on compliance make him a valuable asset to Narvar’s leadership team.”

Emerich said Narvar’s vision “for transforming the post-purchase experience, combined with its commitment to innovation powered by AI and data, presents a compelling opportunity. I look forward to helping the company scale sustainably while delivering unmatched value to Narvar’s retail partners and their customers.”

More Executive News

WorkJam said it is strengthening its sales leadership team by promoting Will Eadie, who has served as the company’s chief revenue officer since 2020, to the company’s chief strategy officer. “He will be succeeded as [chief revenue officer] by Adobe and SAP sales veteran Jerry Short,” the company said, adding that both Eadie and Short will report directly to WorkJam CEO Steven Kramer.

Kramer said as our sales leader for nine years, “Will Eadie has been critical to our rapid growth and his extensive knowledge of the frontline workforce dynamics our customers in multiple industries navigate daily is unparalleled in our organization.” Kramer went on to say that there “is no one better positioned to help shape our strategy, foster strategic partnerships, and continue to build our sales team’s expertise and effectiveness.”

The CEO said the company is “extremely pleased to welcome Jerry Short and are confident they’ll each have an immediate, positive impact on our business as we continue to expand globally.”

As chief strategy officer, Eadie will be overseeing near- and long-term “corporate strategy and development, strategic alliances and go-to-market strategy, working closely with the marketing, product and customer success teams,” the company said. Eadie said WorkJam “is uniquely committed to helping solve our customers’ workforce challenges through digital innovation and, ultimately, to empowering frontline workers across industries and geographies each day.”

Eye on the Prize: Focusing on Customers

In NuOrder by Lightspeed’s latest consumer and retail research report, the customer and winning their loyalty is top of mind of industry executives who are also reacting to changes to the market — such as a shift in focus to physical stores. However, executives are also fixed on the bottom line.

NuOrder’s 2024 “Decoding Department Stores: Research & Insights” report found that maximizing profitability “remains the top business priority for department stores, and they are 95 percent heavily investing in customer loyalty initiatives and inventory risk reduction to drive success,” the report’s authors said, adding that retailer’s greatest challenges “are keeping up with the changing consumer landscape and effectively improving the customer experience. Retail professionals agree that the customer is top of mind for any major business decision.”

Michael Ganci, general manager of NuOrder by Lightspeed, told WWD in a recent report about the survey results that there’s been a lot of back-and-forth “about the merits of online versus brick-and-mortar and direct-to-consumer versus wholesale or marketplaces. It can get noisy and confusing.”

“But the data is loud and clear: these channels are not mutually exclusive: online and physical shopping are equally important,” Ganci explained. “Retailers continue to maintain a strong presence in e-commerce (91 percent) and physical stores (80 percent), and their planned expansion is focused primarily on new storefronts (62 percent) and online marketplaces (40 percent).”

Ganci went on to say that retailers’ strength “lies in their ability to gather and use customer data, a crucial component often overlooked in discussions of the ‘retail apocalypse.’ While they have the potential to succeed in today’s volatile market, outdated back-end systems pose significant challenges. However, with the integration of advanced technology, particularly AI, we are confident that retailers can overcome these hurdles and achieve long-term profitability.”

Being proactive instead of reactive as well as having “hyper-curated” assortments may hold the key to success in this new retail landscape. Ashley Collins, retail client director at NuOrder by Lightspeed, said regarding the shift to physical stores, that the company is seeing our clients, “like Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s, opening locations to make it even easier for their customers to shop with them locally.”

“For example, Bloomingdale’s is opening smaller concept stores called Bloomie’s, and Nordstrom is opening more Rack locations,” Collins said in the report. “Hyper-curated stores will continue to be the strategy for some time to come.”