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24 E-Commerce Stores on the iPad

Found in: Inspiration, ecommr
Wednesday
April 28, 2010
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Last year, I took a spin through the web on an iPhone and noted the results in a post called 52 E-Commerce Stores on the iPhone. Now, I’m doing it again — but this time, with the iPad.

In designing and developing stores with the iPad in mind, there are some unique challengers that will be faced. I’m happy to see that most retailers (except for Walmart) are serving up dynamic, relevant, and functional non-Flash content on their homepage. Walmart was the only store that has a big DOWNLOAD FLASH banner in lieu of a homepage hero.

It’s also interesting to see how the different sized pages scale or adapt to the size of the iPad screen. In the screenshots below, all of the sites were captured in a portrait orientation. I do understand that some layouts are better suited for portrait orientation and some are better suited for landscape. I went with portrait because that’s the way I find myself browsing the web most often. Stores with longer layouts, vivid graphics and large promotional areas seem to really shine on this device. I really like how the American Eagle and PacSun stores look in the screenshots below.

Here’s the first batch of 24 e-commerce screenshots that I’d like to share:



  • Abercrombie & Fitch


  • American Eagle


  • Aeropostale


  • Amazon

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Express Lane for 8/6/2008

Found in: Express Lane, Social Media
Wednesday
August 6, 2008
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A few of the stories I’m reading and wanted to share today:

John Zogby’s got a very insightful look into the political trends of retail consumers and dives behind the numbers to make sense of it all. He looks at presidential election polling numbers, the retailers the customers shop at, and how this relates to the retailers’ branding.

J.Crew’s website has had their share of mistakes and downtime lately. Church of the Customer is talking about the apology e-mail that the retailer sent out to their customers and what this means for the company.

Matt at A New Marketing presents a clean, easily digestable definition of what social media is.

.. and finally – Starbucks is offering a $2 discount on iced beverages in the afternoon when you buy a drink in the morning. I think this is a smart move that should drive repeat business throughout the day. Besides that, I’m selfish and now look forward to saving a little bit of money on my second trip to Starbucks every day.

Sears, Lands End, and the Jersey Shore

Found in: Retail, Visual Merchandising
Sunday
June 17, 2007
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Sears

Good article on Sears, focusing on the new Lands End shop, from today’s Asbury Park Press. Called “Changing clothes“, it focuses on some of the stores in my area (New Jersey) that have rolled out the new Lands End shop, what it means to their business, and what Sears is trying to do to turn things around.

I had previously written about Sears’ Lands End shop when they rolled out out, as one of the stores in my area appeared to be one of the first to roll it out. I have been enthusiastic about the concept. I think that the Lands End shop is one of the more exciting shopping concepts in any department store today. But I still worry that Sears is not doing enough in the rest of the store to match that experience.

They need to figure out a way to make the entire shopping experience in the store more exciting. The Lands End shop should be reflective of the store as a whole, not awkwardly sticking out from the messy racks of markdown merchandise in the department next to it. Between the Lands End concept and the new marketing campaign, I think Sears is starting to turn some heads.

Retailers and Social Media – when are they going to learn?

Found in: Blogging, Business, Retail, Social Media
Monday
May 21, 2007
1 Comment

Recently, I wrote about the new Sears marketing plan and slogan, “Where It Begins”. Today, a Google search for “sears + ‘where it begins’” returns an article from AdWeek first and my website second.

Good thing for Sears, I was generally positive about the new slogan and marketing campaign. Imagine if I was negative and ripped it apart.

As a retailer, do you know what your customers are really saying about your brand online?

Are people reacting favorably to your marketing strategy? To you Summer clothing line? To your latest sale prices?

Are people discouraging others from going to your store because of a bad experience? Because of a short tempered cashier they encountered? Because of the ugliness of your new dresses? Because your return policy sucks?

I can bounce across the web right now and show you a Facebook page where a guy is showing off the new polo he bought from Abercrombie & Fitch.

I can show you a forum where people are talking about the perceived lack of training the cashiers exhibit at Sears.

I can even pull up a Myspace group where employees are talking about mistreatment from management at Kohl’s.

This information is out there. It’s freely accessable. I know where to find it and I’m not alone in that.

If you, as a major retailer, are ignoring this information, you are giving away valuable information that could help you grow your brand, increase your sales, and make the changes that you need to make in order to compete better.

If you, as a major retailer, are reading this information but not interacting with your customers on your own, then you are completely missing the point. Start a corporate blog and encourage discussion, good and bad, on your own website.

Hire an evanglist. Someone who will be the e-face of your company. Someone who will interact with your customers through blogs, forums, and social networking websites. Someone who will drive people to come to your website, to your store, strenghten your brand, and build lasting relationships with your customers.

The answers to what your consumers want are all around us. You just have to look for them and let them know that you are listening.

Other industries are already doing this and succeeding. Why the major retailers in America haven’t jumped on, I don’t know.

Sears. Where it begins.

Found in: Branding, Business
Tuesday
May 8, 2007
4 Comments

Think of Sears.

Now think of opening a book and going on a wonderful journey through the pages.

Does it make you think of shopping at Sears?

The retailer has unveiled their new marketing campaign, featuring a book theme that:

[..] suggests that shopping at Sears is like opening a book which tells a never-ending story about possibilities for life at home. It is designed both to recall the Sears heritage and to speak to customers in a way that is relevant to their needs and lifestyles today.

(More information: from Sears’ own press release, AdWeek, and BrandWeek.)

It appears that the intention of the campaign is to invoke thoughts of the retailers’ catalog beginnings.

I saw one of the commercials tonight, for their Mother’s Day sale. I’ll say this, it did catch my eye. It reminds me of recent television campaigns by Macy’s and Target, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Although I don’t know how much ELO’s “Mr Blue Sky” has to do with Sears, I do love that song.

Visually, I do like this commercial. I’ll reserve judgement on the campaign on a whole until I see more of it in action. I think there is something positive with this concept and I’d like to see it work.

Can they execute this marketing package well across print, television, and interactive media while tying this in to the in-store shopping experience?

Last year I wrote about what I saw Sears doing with the Lands End shop concept (see: SearsÂ’ Lands End Shop). At the time I said that I wasn’t sure how exciting the stores were going to be, outside of this new area. I still feel like that today. If this new marketing campaign is successful in bringing consumers back into Sears, what are they going to see? The Sears I have been in lately haven’t been terribly exciting nor inviting.

Once through those doors, are you going to want to spend your money there?

Looking at this as the first step in a turnaround for the retailer, perhaps this is just the first piece. I think Sears has a rich heritage and it is great to see them tapping in to that. If they continue to reevaluate their core competencies and merchandising assortment, maybe they can stop the bleeding that has begun. Same store sales at Sears were down in the first quarter (source), while many other retailers enjoyed hefty gains. Although their profits were up dramatically in 2006, there is only so much bottom line the retailer can slash before things get ugly.

Is 2007 Sears’ year?