With the UK’s shoppers increasingly using a variety of ways to shop, be it in-store, online or via mobiles, the problem of keeping track of these various customer and sales records and a need to manage them effectively has become more necessary than ever. Imagine... Read more
So you have seen the perfect item online, you’ve placed your order and wait patiently for it to arrive. Only to find that the one moment you went out for milk, the courier arrived and you missed your delivery and now need to rearrange another delivery or cancel your... Read more
With so much talk in the news regarding high street retail, it can be easy to succumb to the ‘doom and gloom’ outlook presented – even from Cybertill’s own research. However in the last couple of months, there have been signs of retail growth. So just what is the... Read more
Has your company got a Twitter account, a Facebook or LinkedIn or Google Plus page…the list could go on. Most businesses have these now, whether they use them and post to them is a different matter. If your business has not got a social media presence then do... Read more
Channel Advisor’s recent survey highlights how European retailers are looking to expand internationally although they view the UK and continental Europe as the best opportunity for ecommerce growth. This view highlights how the fastest growing economies (BRICS) have a... Read more
We recently blogged about showrooming – well this is an update on that blog. We recently attended an Ecommerce Expo where there was a seminar about Fighting Showrooming with Showrooming delivered by JustBought.it and Clarks. There were some salient points raised in... Read more
Have you ever been in a shop and the assistant has left you for 15 minutes or longer to check the stock in the back? We’ll if you’re like me you probably end up leaving to looking elsewhere. This is just one of the pitfalls facing modern high street retailers who are... Read more
The digital revolution continues apace in retail. And one of the latest trends is showrooming, when consumers go into a store to look at and test a product but then leave to buy it online. This is fast becoming a mainstream phenomenon. So how do retailers react to... Read more
With Christmas 2012 behind us, the sales figures are in and they all point to changing consumer patterns, with a growing share of shoppers doing more of their spending online and an emergence of ‘show rooming’ and ‘price matching’. However the retail winners of 2012... Read more
The time of year is coming when many people’s thoughts turn to Christmas and what gifts to buy their family and friends. Many rely on giving gift cards, as buying presents can be a minefield. Indeed the value of the UK gift card industry is growing quickly according... Read more
There is a plenty of debate around about the value of apprenticeships in business. Do they add real value to organisations and individuals or are they way of businesses getting cheap labour. Here Cybertill CEO, Ian Tomlinson, shares his thoughts on the value of... Read more
Ask any retailer if they would like their website to be on page one of Google and…well you know the answer. The power of Google and the influence it has on websites is vast so appearing on its first page, and the higher the better, can have a huge bearing on volume of... Read more
Guest Blog by Clare Rayner Technology is all around us – our phones, laptops, games consoles and even our TVs can now connect us wirelessly to the web to enable us to socialise, search and, most importantly, shop. Businesses too depend on technology, to provide data... Read more
There is a relatively new term in retail “Omni-Channel Retailing”. This is an evolution of multi-channel retailing (that this blog argued in a previous column was a misnomer and should be called cross-channel) whereby that omni-channel allows a seamless approach... Read more
The deadline for the EU cookie directive is looming large, and it will potentially have a huge impact on online retailers. Firstly, what is the EU cookie directive? The directive relates how to companies hold personal information of visitors to their site. A cookie... Read more
The recent Record Store Day (that promotes independent record stores with in store gigs, exclusive releases and so forth) is becoming a common theme on the high street as different sectors of retail come together to promote their ‘cause’ and services to consumers.... Read more
What will IT stand for in a few years time? Idea’s Team, Intelligence Team…or maybe marketing will be rebranded and swallow IT completely – ‘markiting’. Ok, this may sound extreme, but much of today’s IT department may well reside in marketing in a few years time.... Read more
The wave of hype and excitement is palpable, even this side of the Atlantic, as Black Friday looms ahead! For those that don’t know, Black Friday is the first shopping day after Thanksgiving in the United States. Thanksgiving typically falls on the last Thursday in... Read more
Multi-channel retail is fast becoming extinct as the lines blur between each sales channel, and as retailers evolve into cross-channel retailers. First there was retail, then mail order, then ecommerce. Some retailers managed to combine the three sales channels with... Read more
It is hard to imagine that the riots that have been sweeping England could actually happen. So as individuals and businesses how can you plan for disasters like these, to ensure your retail business can have some continuity? There are some basic steps that retailers... Read more
Is there anything as powerful as the internet? It has brought down governments, businesses and aided in major civil unrest. Look at the revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa as governments fall and people are mobilised by the internet and social media.... Read more