Whitepaper & Video Center

eTail Boston 2024 was a remarkable event, filled with insightful sessions, innovative ideas, and engaging conversations. From Warby Parker's keynote to the final panel with Thousand Fell and Adore Me, speakers inspired attendees to confidently navigate the evolving retail landscape. This post-event report offers a detailed recap, including key highlights and emerging themes. We look forward to continuing the momentum at eTail Palm Springs in February 2025!

This report, based on a survey of marketing leaders at top business to-consumer (B2C) brands, explores the barriers marketers’ encounter in effectively utilizing their customer data. The findings reveal a telling challenge: 81% of marketers rate their technology infrastructure as only adequate for now, partially adequate, or inadequate in supporting data-driven marketing initiatives.

In the rapidly evolving landscape of retail and eCommerce, AI is poised to become a pivotal force in reshaping industry standards for customer engagement, operational efficiency, and market competitiveness. This report underscores the critical role of AI-driven insights, automation, and personalization, as facilitated through the integration of Customer Data Platforms with unified data systems. It highlights an understanding that the future of retail and eCommerce will be significantly influenced by technology’s ability to offer nuanced, personalized experiences.

This report highlights the critical role of digital tools and logistics platforms in addressing contemporary consumer expectations for convenient and flexible shopping experiences, such as pickup-anywhere and fast ship-to-home delivery. It also emphasizes the adoption of real-time order management software, dedicated staffing for online orders, and analytics for forecasting as key strategies among retailers to enhance operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. One key finding is that all the respondents believe it is at least somewhat important to have data in one location to make actionable fulfillment decisions. This points to the necessity of consolidated data access. It also underscores the importance of an integrated omnichannel platform for agile decision-making

While retail and eCommerce organizations recognize the critical importance of effective data management for strategic decisionmaking and personalized customer experiences, many struggle with outdated tools and processes. This report is based on a survey of retail and eCommerce leaders. Ultimately, the results of the study suggest that achieving a comprehensive, collaborative, and technologically advanced data management framework is essential for companies to leverage their data effectively and stay competitive.

Struggling with inventory management on Shopify? An investment in SaaS and advanced technologies promises improved forecasting, cost reduction, and sustainability. Elevate efficiency and innovation by investing in easy-to-use inventory solutions today. Download your copy today!

Personalization is an important tool in ecommerce, as it allows businesses to tailor their offerings to the interests of their customers. This report is based on a 2023 webinar by Nogin that explored methods for increasing eCommerce customer engagement through personalization. Here, readers will learn how to craft an ideal eCommerce experience for customers by using AI-powered customer segmentation, algorithmic merchandising, smart promotions, and more.

In the past few years, the holiday shopping season has become much more digital. Consumer demands for expedited services have only increased, putting pressure on retailers to stay on top of buying trends in real-time while also delivering personalization and fast fulfillment at scale. This report explores what challenges and opportunities brands and retailers are facing as they enter the 2023 holiday shopping season. Here, readers will find key benchmarking data as well as insights directly from retail leaders on topics like strategy, technology, digitization, and customer experience.

Headless commerce has drastically changed eCommerce by allowing businesses to create an online presence without having to rely on a traditional web-based storefront. Instead, websites and applications can be powered by APIs that enable data like product information and prices to be distributed across channels like mobile apps, voice assistants, and conversational chatbots. This report explores how eCommerce retailers are currently using headless commerce and what challenges they face in optimizing their font-end digital strategy.

The DTC model has become a winning strategy for many consumer brands, even those that have traditionally sold all their products via partnerships with retailers. However, the DTC space has become much more crowded. This report explores how the DTC model has evolved and where it stands in today’s retail environment. It also identifies brands’ current DTC strategies and reveals how they are working to address new opportunities and challenges.

When data flows freely through these relationships, multi-brand retailers and brand manufacturers can work together to create a cohesive experience for the shopper. However, achieving this can be a challenge without the right solutions or the processes necessary to apply data. This report explores how retailers and manufacturers are accessing first-party data and how successfully they are applying that data to solve supply chain challenges and create an ideal shopper experience. It will also examine how these types of organizations are using data platforms to support both in-store and digital shopping formats.

When consumers engage with an Ecommerce website, many of them go straight for the search bar to find the products they need. This is one of the most basic steps in the customer’s journey toward a purchase; but for the retailer, it is a crucial moment that could make or break the sale. This report explores how organizations in the Ecommerce space are currently using on-site search to deliver results for customers. Based on a survey of 200 retail leaders from the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, the report also outlines what steps organizations need to take in this space to optimize their search capabilities, engage in searchandising, and deliver AI-enhanced personalization at scale.

Marketers have long known the value of Creative in driving business outcomes. But concerns are rising over the long-term viability of investing in media optimization alone. Are they seeking solutions that will help them better connect their big ideas to compelling, audience-driving advertising campaigns? The overwhelming conclusion is “yes”—Creative is perceived as the next frontier to improve campaign performance. Technology is increasingly seen as an opportunity, and not the enemy, for Creative effectiveness in campaign performance. Technology solutions that align creative and media teams and combine capabilities to both enhance campaign agility and augment campaign intelligence will be heavily sought after.

Retailers invest countless resources to prepare for the traditional holiday shopping season. But non-traditional holidays like Mother’s Day, tax-free holidays, and even ‘Amazon Prime Day’ are reshaping the retail timeline, pushing retailers to change their seasonal strategies. In this report, you will learn how eCommerce retailers are improving the way they understand seasonal and holiday events and sell in those contexts year-round. You will also learn how experimentation, personalization, and automation factor into eCommerce retailers’ seasonal sales strategies.

Once the purview of startups and disruptor brands, direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales is now an integral part of many manufacturers’ sales strategies. But D2C business is not without its challenges. Last year, some brands also claimed to require a major technology overhaul if they wanted to secure their D2C strategies for the future. This report explores the progress brands have made in their D2C strategies over the past year. It contains insights from D2C leaders as well as benchmarking information regarding technology adoption, strategy deployment, and industry trends.