Top 3 challenges facing retailers and how to solve them

Challenge One: Multi-channel brand management.

Solution: Manage inventory and branding.

"As consumers continue to shop beyond the traditional ecommerce site, online retailers are faced with the challenge of providing a seamless brand and customer experience across channels, including mobile, shopping engines, marketplaces, and of course, their bread and butter ecommerce site. From managing inventory to ensuring integrated branding and even keeping track of customers' purchasing paths, bridging the gaps between these various outlets is of importance for retailers' short- and long-term operations and business viability," said Matt Winn, Senior Makreting Communications Manager, Volusion.

Challenge Two: Battling Goliath retailers.

Solution: Customer service.

"With market share continuing to move to mega-retailers like Amazon, the smaller players are having to find new and innovative ways to keep up. Branding and customer service is a key component to differentiate themselves from larger, low-cost retailers, as is an increased push toward savvy marketing and gaining avid customer loyalty," advises Winn.

Challenge Three: Managing data.

Solution: Find your balance - not your competitor's.

"Retailers have the potential for data to be running from their ears, such as web analytics, email metrics, sales patterns, customer segmentation and more. This means that a balance needs to be struck - not only do retailers need to wade through all the data, they need to decide which metrics are of the highest importance and not be distracted by outlier data that can take their strategy off course," said Winn.

Image via Shutterstock

Tags: ecommerce, ecommerce tips, retail tips, retailer challenges, Volusion