Innotrac

SmartHub® 3.1, November 2012 Release Summary

Cyber Monday, which is the Monday following Black Friday and the unofficial kickoff of the holiday shopping season, has long been heralded as the most important day for online retail providers.   And this year did not disappoint, despite predictions that Cyber Monday’s importance is lessening as a commerce keystone day, largely due to the trend of consumers shopping online anytime via mobile devices which, in theory would cannibalize Cyber Monday sales.  Despite these trends, however, shoppers made Cyber Monday 2012 the busiest online shopping day again, and cemented the importance of the day to both consumers and online retailers alike. In the end, retailers …

SmartHub® 3.0, October 2012 Release Summary

At the start of the Q4 2012, online purchases continued to grow as the economy showed signs of increased strength and consumer confidence. In late October, when this round of ordering took place, retailers were already preparing for a strong holiday season with over 16% growth predicted. By chance, this order event occurred on the day Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast causing widespread, devastating impact.

SmartHub®, Innotrac’s proprietary benchmarking tool, provides clients and strategic partners with intelligence and analysis of the online retail purchase cycle. For this release, we expanded our pool of retailers, evaluating over 225 leading merchants …

SmartHub 2.3, August 2012 Release Summary

With a strengthening economy and continually dropping unemployment rates, the U.S. has been experiencing a surge in internet shopping.  According to Comscore’s State of the US Retail Economy report, online purchases increased by 16% as of Q3 2012.  This represents $209 billion in sales through September of this year.  Similarly, Internet Retailer reports that 3rd quarter online sales for 2012 have increased 17.3% over the same period in 2011.  This increase accounts for the 7.7% of total adjusted retail sales which excludes food service, auto, and fuel purchases.  These items, not typically purchased online, still experienced a bump in online sales up from last …

SmartHub 2.2, June 2012 Release Summary

Online purchases continued to grow in Q2 2012, increasing by 15% and outpacing offline purchases (which increased only 2%) according to Comscore’s State of the US Retail Economy report from August 2012.  This trend is projected to continue through the 2012 Holiday season with a growth rate of 16.8% over last year.  According to eMarketer.com, this represents $54.4 billion in retail sales.

SmartHub®, Innotrac’s proprietary benchmarking tool, provides clients and strategic partners with intelligence and analysis of the online retail purchase cycle.  We currently evaluate over 100 leading merchants across 56 data points, tracking the entire eCommerce experience from ordering, …

The North Face and Innotrac Partner to Deliver Happy Returns

Business Challenge

How returns are handled can greatly impact consumer satisfaction and customer retention. When managed well, returns can translate into additional sales opportunities and increased customer loyalty.

For apparel and outdoor gear retailer The North Face, a division of VF Corporation, the goal was to make e-commerce returns seamless while still delivering a superior brand experience.  Speed is essential in this process, especially when it comes to the busy holiday season. The North Face return rate typically increases by a factor of two to three percentage points during the peak sales season, further validating the need for an efficient …