Henry’s Camera Expands its Omni-Channel Commerce Strategy with Reserve Online Pickup In-Store Functionality with OrderDynamics eCommerce Platform and Retail Order Management System

July 25, 2013, TORONTO, ON – OrderDynamics®, Canada’s leading on-demand commerce platform provider, today announced Henry’s Camera, Canada’s largest independent retailer with over 100 years of experience in selling high-end cameras and photo imaging accessories, recently launched Reserve Online Pickup In-Store functionality through its website, Henrys.com.  With Reserve Online capabilities, Henry’s now offers its customers a variety of fulfillment options to support their growing omni-channel commerce strategy and operations.

Henry’s currently operates 33 stores across Canada, and manages several eCommerce websites through the OrderDynamics eCommercePlatform and Retail Order Management System including Henry’s Camera, a Henry’s Camera Mobile site, Headshots Rentals, and School of Imaging.

The Reserve Online Pickup In-store initiative utilizes OrderDynamics’ multi-location inventory management module, allowing customers to view product inventory at individual store levels. Henry’s customers are now able research products online and reserve that product at the most convenient location in a few simple steps. In addition, this tool is calibrated to automatically calculate local taxes and provide a complete order total, giving the customer an instant and transparent order summary. Customers are now able to maximize their shopping experience by engaging with Henry’s expert store associates and receive advice regarding warranties and maintenance when picking up their reserved products from the stores.

Henry’s staff can even view online and in-store purchasing history and behaviour profiles of its customers to help understand preferences or make appropriate upsell and cross-sell recommendations during the in-store pickup portion of the sale. In addition, Henry’s anticipates reduced shipping costs for its online customers who choose to take advantage of its new in-store pickup offering.

By expanding their Omni-Channel fulfillment efforts, Henry’s are well-positioned to further support their brick and mortar operations by driving additional store traffic, reducing return rates, leveraging in-store inventory, and increasing average sale values. Henry’s also sees its Reserve Online Pickup In-Store functionality as a line buster, as store associates can now help customers through the purchasing process more quickly as a result of pre-packing their desired products previously reserved from their website.

“Reserve In-Store represents our commitment to providing the most convenient and seamless omni-channel shopping experience possible for our customers. It also acts as a way for Henry’s to leverage inventory and expert staff at each of our retail stores,” said Ian Landy, President and CEO at Henry’s. “When customers come into our stores to buy an item they reserved online, they also have an opportunity to enjoy our in-store experience, large product inventory, and expert staff. This will lead to an even better shopping experience and ensure our customers get exactly what they want”.

Reserve Online Pickup In-store launched earlier this summer, and is already seeing high customer engagement with an average of 20 in-store reservations per day.

“Henry’s have always put their customers first and as a result, have heavily invested in their ecommerce operations to create an outstanding cross-channel shopping experience,” said Michael Turcsanyi, President at OrderDynamics. “The Henry’s team have always been eCommerce innovators and their early success with new Reserve Online capabilities is another great step for them as they continue to align in-store and online experiences.”

OrderDynamics Monthly Google Updates Report – July 2013

The end of June and the month of July proved to be relatively quiet for Google, with Search riding on the effects of May’s heavy Penguin 2.0 update, and Analytics introducing new features and reports to help handle all of Penguin’s new ‘un-spammy’ traffic.

Google Search

On June 19, many webmasters and SEO specialists noted significant changes in their levels of Google Referral traffic listed within Google Analytics. Six days later, Google’s Matt Cutts confirmed that a multi-week algorithm update was rolling out, and would conclude around July 4. Though he did not confirm which algorithm was specifically being updated, by July 5 when the rollout concluded, many in the SEO community noted a 1-3 position fluctuation in search rank.

Further fluctuations on July 11 signaled another algorithm update, which has been assumed to be Penguin-related, as Google confirmed merely 7 days later that a “soft” Panda update was taking place, which would be much more targeted than past updates, and would be less volatile for search rankings.

As has been the case over the last few months, Matt Cutts was very transparent about various techniques to help with SEO and search rank. He shared the benefits of the Google Authorship tag “rel=author’, stating that it signals to Google spiders the authority and credibility of an article and its author, thereby helping to boost search rank. He later shared that Google was ramping up its focus on mobile SEO; according to Mr. Cutts, even if your desktop site contains optimized, keyword-rich content, if it is not mobile-friendly, it will be penalized in mobile search and will not rank well. He also addressed the question of guest-blog posting, which lately has become the focus of many SEO specialists in attempts to build a strong link profile; he stated that the practice has become so common, and in turn spammy, that it is more beneficial to search rank to append a ‘no follow’ tag to guest-posts as opposed to allowing a ‘follow’, as it signals to Google that you are making overt attempts to NOT be spammy.

Google Analytics

On July 2, Google Analytics announced a new way to measure social media marketing ROI. The tool involves an integration between Google Analytics and Wildfire by Google, and identifies how social media affects conversion paths.  The next day, Google announced enhancements to its Adwords integration, that allow in-depth reporting of data that helps set and adjust bids within Enhanced Campaigns; the enhancement changes the format of campaign presentation, wherein data is now consolidated for campaigns whose names have changed over time, as opposed to separating data for each different name a campaign has had.

July 11 saw an exciting announcement from Analytics, that a team consisting of IBM, Accenture, W3C and others had created a Standard Data Layer to become a core component of Google Tag Manager. The layer would essentially set the standard for simplified tag implementation, as Google Analytics is also currently working to establish a standardized format and syntax for tags to compliment the new layer. This Data Layer will store and present data on user activity.

Analytics announced on July 16 an update to features with the Advanced Segmentation tool, as well as its new user interface which now utilizes a drag-and-drop design for easy management of segmentation options.  The new updates include improvements on:

• User segmentation – previously this was based on traffic source. Now segments can be set based on specific demographics, so all users who fit the criteria will be lumped together
• Cohort analysis – analyzes and reports on the long-term benefits of retaining specific groups/segments of customers
• Sequence segment – this segments users based on a series of specified behaviours while on a website, and can be defined across several visits (i.e. a segment can be set to include anyone who visits the site twice prior to converting)
• Segment templates – 6 segment templates have been implemented to enable easy application of segment criteria:
• Demographics
• Technology
• Behaviour
• Data of first visit
• Traffic source
• E-commerce

Google Adwords

Google Adwords reported only one update to the platform in July: new capability to the Lightbox Ad format. Lightbox now enables Google Catalogs to be viewed in pop-up-like Lightbox format, allowing customers to scan through an entire catalog and view pricing without ever actually leaving the web page they found it on. Google Catalog use in Lightbox will be billed according to a Cost-per-Engagement model, wherein Adwords advertisers will only be charged with customers open their catalog.

OrderDynamics Recognized as one of eTail’s Rising Stars of 2013!

eTail, a premier online and multi-channel retail conference, announced yesterday the winners of its Rising Stars award for 2013. OrderDynamics® was selected among hundreds of nominees as a Rising Star in the Start Up and Service Technology categories.

Nominees for the Rising Star award are based on recommendations and testimonials of people within the retail community, and winners are selected by eTail based on those rated as first-class for value, performance and excellence in their service offering.

OrderDynamics credits its reception of the award to enhanced merchandising features in its eCommerce Frontend Solution, sophisticated order management and omni-channel fulfillment capabilities within its Retail Order Management Solution, as well as its value-add digital marketing tools and advanced third-party integration ecosystem.

Over the last year, OrderDynamics has made significant improvements to its eCommerce Platform and Retail Order Management Solution. In October, OrderDynamics announced its unprecedented integration with Canada Post, offering cutting-edge check out and fulfillment options as has never been seen before in Canada with Laura Canada, a national retailer. Later in December, OrderDynamics helped Latin American retailer, Inova.com.mx, re-launch its Spanish-language site, marking OrderDynamics’ first international endeavour using the Platform’s multi-language capabilities, and one of many other site launches over the course of the year. OrderDynamics’ significant experience in launching eCommerce and multi-channel offerings, as well as great thought-leadership based on years of attending high-profile retail and technology events, lead to their acquisition by UK eCommerce provider, eCommera in early 2013, paving the way for substantial growth opportunities in the joint eCommera-OrderDynamics product and service offering.

“We’re very excited to be receiving such a prestigious award. It’s an honour to have our solutions and services recognized within the retail community,” says Michael Turcsanyi, President at OrderDynamics. “We are committed to providing our retailers with enhanced tools to service their customers, and maximize revenue and ultimately grow their business. OrderDynamics is passionate about innovation, making sure we’re constantly offering the newest technologies, and outstanding customer service. It’s great to know our retailers feel we are providing them the best solutions and customer experience.”

Canadian Women’s Apparel Retailer, Anna Bella Fashions, Launches with OrderDynamics!

OrderDynamics® would like to congratulate Canadian women’s fashion retailer, Anna Bella, on the launch of their first ever eCommerce shopping experience on the OrderDynamics On-Demand Commerce Platform.

Anna Bella brings with it 17 years of retail experience in offering high quality women’s casual and work apparel, evening wear and accessories to its first online store. They specialize in providing customers with local designer brands and stylish private labels in sizes 6 to 18, as well as petite variations. With the launch of their omni-channel offering, Anna Bella extends its retail operations from more than 20 stores in Ontario, Canada to delivering their signature shopping experience all across Canada.

The new AnnaBella.com Home Page

The new AnnaBella.ca displays a full catalog of Anna Bella fashions with features that enable simplified browsing such as a Guided Navigation, Shop by New Arrivals, and Shop by Top Sellers.  AnnaBella.com’s sophisticated product pages offer care instructions and recommended items to complete an outfit and help shoppers’ match items to their personal style, while the Shop by Comparison feature allows customers to compare up to 4 products at a time on one screen.

Anna Bella's Shop by Comparison feature

Anna Bella selected OrderDynamics while seeking an eCommerce platform that would allow them to provide the same quality of service online as they do in stores. The flexibility and scalability of the cloud-based platform, paired with extensive experience in launching online stores for the first time provided Anna Bella with the confidence to partner with a solution they knew would enable their sophisticated in-store experience to resonate online.

AnnaBella.com Product Page

Through OrderDynamics, AnnaBella.com offers advanced fulfillments options to effectively serve and retain their online customer base. With the OrderDynamics’ Endpoint Solution, they are able to efficiently pick and pack orders in-store as soon as they come in, and ship 90% of all orders the next business day. AnnaBella.com will leverage the support and expertise of OrderDynamics’ dedicated Account Managers to help them seamlessly transition into online and omni-channel operations, and learn how to fully apply the end-to-end solutions and third-party integrations within the platform to quickly grow their business.

“We’re very excited about the launch of the new AnnaBella.com, and the opportunity to help them expand their business online,” says Michael Turcsanyi, President at OrderDynamics. “OrderDynamics’ experience and expertise helped us create a plan with Anna Bella to rapidly launch the site to meet their seasonal goals . The site has great functionality to help them build their online following, and they have access to excellent tools with the OrderDynamics Team that will help them continue to progress and grow”.

OrderDynamics Monthly Google Updates Report – June 2013

In June, Google introduced a new search rank algorithm, and announced monthly multi-day and multi-week rolling Panda updates. Improvements to Analytics and its integration with Adwords created a suite of tools that support digital marketing.

Google Search

While Google announced in March that they would no longer be announcing or confirming further algorithm updates, Google’s Matt Cutts was very candid throughout June about how algorithm updates are now handled and pushed out. On June 11^th, Matt discussed at the SMX Advanced Expo in Seattle, and released a video tweet later that day announcing the rollout of what is being called the Anti-Spam Algorithm. The new ranking update is aimed at spammy searches, particularly those related to adult content and, notably, ‘payday loans’; the update was said to have affected a minor 0.3% of US English searches, and places more importance on ensuring an entire website is well optimized, not just individual focal pages. Also at SMX Advanced, Matt shared that Google Panda is still updated on a monthly basis, but that the rollouts are slower than before, taking place over the course of 10 days as opposed to 1-2 as was the case previously. Matt also confirmed a second algorithm update on June 25 that would continue through to July 4^th, although whether this was Panda or Anti-Spam-related was not specified. What these multiday and multi-week updates mean for SEOs and business owners is that they can expect to see fluctuating search rank for at least one third of every month.

On June 5^th, Search Engine Land provided some interesting research on why many businesses have seen a drop in organic search traffic in Google Analytics. They learned that mobile Safari does not support the “meta referrer” tag, and as such does not pass this along to Google Analytics to show that traffic was derived from mobile search on an iOS 6 device, and instead shows up as direct traffic.

Additional interesting announcements related to Google Search include the launch of the Google+ dashboard, which allows users to manage all Google tools on one platform. The dashboard provides search analytics, including the location of mobile searches, as well as Google+ post analytics. On June 17, it was also announced that Webmaster Tools would begin providing example URLs in trigger warnings (errors/issues identified by Webmaster Tools). While Webmaster Tools will not list all flagged URLs, the examples will provide information needed to identify which other URLs are causing a problem.

Google Analytics

In June, Google Analytics’ implemented a series of tools and changes that support digital marketing efforts, which includes Google Adwords integrations. On June 4, Google announced on the Analytics blog the launch of a new API for the Content Experiments tool that officially renders Analytics a full A/B testing platform, wherein users can test potential changes to a website and receive analytics data to understand if the change should be made.

On June 19, Google launched an integration with Google Display Network that would allow advertisers to track ad impressions under Multichannel Funnels. Originally, only click-throughs on ads could be measured, however this integration enables tracking for two new conversion metrics: Impression Assisted Conversions – conversions paths which include an ad impression, and Rich Media Assisted Conversions – conversions generated by customer interaction with rich media ads, such as pressing play or expanding a YouTube video ad. These new metrics also include dimensions to further segment conversions based on whether the ad was above or below the fold, and what percent of a video ad a consumer allowed to play, which helps advertisers understand the effectiveness of current ads, and what may need to be better optimized. Further changes to the Multichannel Funnels include the new Attribution Model Comparison tool, which extended viewable data to 90 days in arrears, and allows for measurement of ROI on digital marketing efforts with Cost per Acquisition and Return on Ad Spend.

Google Adwords

Changes in Google Adwords throughout June introduced new reports to assist in building ideal ad campaigns, as well as new ad extensions to increase ad attractiveness.

June 5^th saw the introduction of image extensions to ads, wherein Adwords ads in search results can now also display an image to complement the ad content, such as a brand logo, or a photo of the actual item being advertised. Mid-month, Google also announced on the Inside Adwords blog that Sitelinks (the 6 links displayed under the first site on organic search results page) could be implemented on Adwords ad.

Google Adwords’ Auction Insights Report, which enables advertisers to compare their ad performance against competitors who own related ads, received an upgrade that provides data on more than just single keywords. The improvement facilitates running the report on groups of keywords, multiple ad groups, and multiple campaigns. Google also introduced the Top Movers Report that quickly identifies large changes in ad clicks and bid costs, and provides suggestions as to what may have caused it.

Late in the month, Remarketing – traditionally a Display Network tool – became available for search ads in Adwords. Remarketing for search enables Adwords advertisers to make custom adjustments to keyword bids for searches from people who have previously visited their website, and bid on high competition keywords specifically for searches from repeat customers.  Remarketing for search ads uses the same tags as Remarketing in the Display Network, so those currently utilizing Display Network are automatically equipped to use Remarketing in their search ads.

It is important to note that for all Adwords advertisers who have not yet upgraded to Enhanced Campaigns, Google will automatically upgrade for them on July 22 using default bid metrics. Those that upgrade beforehand will not be touched by Google.

Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition 2013 - Recap of the Show!

Some of the OrderDynamics team at IRCE 2013 in Chicago

A few quick weeks have passed since the 2013 Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition wrapped up earlier this month and it’s been a whirlwind to say the least. The first week of June saw OrderDynamics announce it had been acquired by eCommera, a global leader in Decision Intelligent Commerce solutions, exhibit at the Retail Council of Canada’s annual STORE Conference, and exhibit at IRCE 2013 in Chicago!  What a way to start June, but we couldn’t be happier with the reception we received to our news, as well as the new connections and friends we made at each of the respective conferences.

The 2013 edition of IRCE was bigger and better than any of its previous years.  The Conference played host to more than 9,500 attendees and 600+ vendors at McCormick Place in Chicago while marking the first time the event was managed by its new ownership, GLM Events.  And just like other years, a number of themes and trends were very apparent throughout the Conference including the need for cloud-based order management solutions, global commerce expansion, B2B commerce, and omni-channel commerce enablement.  The latter two trends were extensions of themes we observed at IRCE’s 2012 Conference, but still worthy of mention.

A Partial view of the IRCE exhibiting hall featuring 600+ vendors

Order Management Is A Must
In recent years order management has evolved from “nice to have” to “must have”, largely because of growing consumer and customer service expectations, and also due to incredible ecommerce growth and complex retail system integrations.  The emergence and re-prioritization of omni-channel commerce in 2011 and 2012 (and especially seen at the 2012 IRCE and 2012 Shop.org Annual Summit) brought retail order management features like buy online pick up in-store, ship from store, distributed fulfillment, single view of the customer, advanced order handling, mobile POS, and more to the forefront of the industry and revealed how difficult it is to execute intricate strategies without proper tools and solutions.  These requirements indicated brick and mortar retailers of all sizes had gaps in their backend infrastructure that couldn’t be filled by extending frontend ecommerce platforms or backend inventory/accounting systems.  In addition, web-only retailers are aggressively seeking order management solutions to reduce the amount of manual tasks needed to process a growing volume of orders and to create business rules that streamline warehouse/distribution center fulfillment procedures. 

Another picture of the OrderDynamics team hard at work during IRCE 2013

Order management’s rise in importance across the ecommerce industry speaks to the evolution of web and retail shopping and how critical multi-channel shopping and fulfillment options have become for merchants set on delivering premium service to its customers.  Those who follow ecommerce closely likely regard Macy’s and Nordstrom as early adopters of omni-channel, but since other enterprise retailers such as Staples have also answered this movement by creating new omni-channel enabled stores to cater to this ongoing evolution.  Retailers with long term omni-channel intentions are already putting significant investments into order management solutions to help support evolving business needs and ultimately provide improved customer experiences.  Doing this will enable much more flexibility and represents how strategic order management is and will continue to be move forward.  At the end of the day, robust order management solutions will improve the level of service and choice retailers are able offer shoppers, and that’s a great thing for consumers.

OrderDynamics founders (left to right) Jules Sukhabut, Michael Turcsanyi, Michael Benadiba

Global Commerce Expansion Is Still Unchartered
While the idea of well-known North American retailers expanding online operations into new markets in Europe and beyond isn’t exactly new, there are still a large number of merchants slowly investigating the move.  In many cases, U.S.-based retailers are using Canada as an unofficial testing ground and practical learning experience.  The careful consideration and long term planning going into these decisions is completely understandable – it’s a huge investment that needs to be executed perfectly – and accurately articulates the need these growing retailers have for quality partners who understand local-yet-foreign markets.  From the conversations we shared throughout IRCE, it’s clear that there is no single ecommerce solution tailored to each and every global market and retailers already know that.  As a result they are testing and evaluating new partners for different markets in order to understand various solution strengths and expertise.  Global expansion still has a long way to go in terms of stabilizing strategies and operations, but this approach makes a lot of sense and fundamentally helps retailers better understand small intricacies with new markets while undertaking the least amount of risk.  It also re-confirms the importance that should be placed on finding the right partners with the right, global optimized technology.

Pinny Gniwisch, formerly of Ice.com, discussing the value of long term solution partner

There is so much more that could be written about this terrific Conference, including the amazing list of speakers IRCE 2013 had.  While difficult to name everyone, we’d to make special mention of the Keynote session that featured the one and only Al Gore, as well as a host of dynamic and insightful speakers including Pinny Gniwisch, formerly of Ice.com, Jon Barker, COO of Hayneedle, and Cindy Lincks Director of Analytics at Brooks Brothers.  

Former Vice-President Al Gore as IRCE 2013's Keynote Speaker

We would also like to take the opportunity to say a special thanks to several of our clients for dropping by our booth and exclusive ecommerce networking party during the three main days of IRCE including Henry’s, The Shoe Company, Cascio Interstate Music, and a number of others.

OrderDynamics team working away on day 2 of IRCE

The 2014 IRCE will also be held in Chicago and we already can’t wait.  The next big retail conference OrderDynamics will be exhibiting at will be the 2013 Shop.org Annual Summit September 30 – October 2 (also in Chicago).

We will be reaching out to all interested parties over the next two weeks. Please feel free to contact us directly: solutions@orderdynamics.com.

In the meantime, we invite you to visit our website at www.orderdynamics.com to learn more about our On-Demand Commerce Platform and Connected Commerce, omni-channel vision.

Sincerely,
The OrderDynamics Team
1 (866) 559-8123

STORE 2013 – Recap of the Show!

It’s been a busy week since OrderDynamics exhibited at the STORE 2013 Conference in Toronto. On June 4 and 5, OrderDynamics exhibited at the Retail Council of Canada’s biggest annual event, celebrating 50 years of retail evolution, and showcasing retail expertise and insights into upcoming industry trends. This year’s show, as with many others, displayed a dedicated focus on the growing need for retailers to invest in omni-channel solutions, the migration of US brands up to Canada, and to begin to prioritize social media marketing.

STORE 2013 Main Entrance at the Toronto Congress Centre

STORE 2013 kicked off with a keynote address with the RCC’s President and CEO, Diane Brisebois, followed by a the main morning session by the President of Target Canada, Tony Fisher. Tony’s session, entitled the Evolving Retail Landscape, discussed how technology has made the world smaller making it necessary for the popular US native retailer to make its entry into Canada – Target’s largest single-year expansion to date.  The session also addressed the challenges behind taking a patriotic American brand, and making the experience offered north of the border uniquely Canadian by tailoring each store to the preferences of the community in which it is located, and utilizing their blog – A Bullseye View – to engage customers and drive sales.

Tony Fisher of Target Canada

OrderDynamics also attended the Omni-Channel and the Integrated Consumer panel session. The discussion featured executives from the Canadian Tire Corp (which encompasses Canadian Tire, Sports Chek and Mark’s Work Warehouse), Etsy, and Indigo sharing their experiences in adapting their business model toward accommodating consumers’ omni-channel -connectedness. Erin Green of Etsy shared the pure play online shop’s strategy to not create their own retail outlets, but partner with other popular retailers and their brick-and-mortar locations to set up pop-up shops highlighting successful Etsy sellers’ items to build awareness of their online channel. Michael Smith of Indigo simply stated that it was necessary to implement an omni-channel retail strategy given their vast selection of products – an online store was the only way customers would ever be able to see Indigo’s product offering in its overwhelming entirety.

Duncan Fulton of Canadian Tire Corp shared some very interesting insights, having spoken about identifying which of their three retail brands was the best to test their proposed strategies before implementing them across all brands, stating that the smaller and younger Sports Chek audience is more forgiving than the larger and older Mark’s demographic, which isn’t all too concerned with a consistent omni-channel experience. He touched on showrooming and loyalty programs, stating that the experiences retailers provide in either arena need to be game-changing and thrill customers in order to actually work, especially if a brand cannot offer the lowest price on an item. The most thoughtful thing Duncan said was, “if you’re not working on omni-channel now, you won’t be able to keep up in 10 years”.

Omni-Channel and the Integrated Consumer Panel Discussion: Michael Smith of Indigo, Erin Green of Etsy, Duncan Fulton of Canadian Tire Corp., hosted by Marc Saltzman

STORE’s Annual Leadership Panel was also a highly informative and engaging discussion between the presidents of Toys ‘R’ US Canada and Staples Canada, along with the Managing Director of Google Canada. Together they touched on omni-channel retail, showrooming, social media and SEO, and risk management including testing same-day delivery. The social media conversation was especially interesting, as the benefits of it within an omni-channel marketing strategy has been long debated. Steve Matyas of Staples Canada labelled social media as “a necessary equal,” whose payback may not be obvious, but the level of service customers derive from it still needs to be there. Chris O’Neil of Google added that retailers and businesses have been measuring the wrong things with respect to analyzing the value of investing in social media: “instead of revenue, measure loyalty and engagement”. He elaborated that social media is an extension of real-time marketing which “is here, it’s happening, and you can either fear it, or lean into it”.

The STORE Annual Leadership Panel: Kevin MacNab of Toys 'R' Us Canda, Steve Matyas of Staples Canada, Chris O'Neil of Google Canada, hosted by Willy Kruh

Showrooming, the concept that has been instilling panic in retailers since mid 2012, was addressed as ‘more than just a price conversation’, but also allowing the customer the opportunity to choose where to shop on multiple levels. A customer should be given the option to decide to buy from one brand vs. another based on customer service, in-store experience, or the availability of multiple items they need in one place.

Perhaps the most interesting statement during the Leadership Panel Discussion came from Chris O’Neil with respect to omni-channel retail, stating that those who do not yet recognize the need for omni-channel need to understand that a digital consumer cannot be separated from a brick-and-mortar consumer – a customer is a customer, period.

The STORE 2013 exhibit hall

STORE 2013 was also home to an inspiring keynote session by Nordstrom Canada, sharing key strategies on their current success and move into Canada, as well as the RCC’s inaugural Grocery and Consumer Goods Symposium. OrderDynamics is extremely proud to have been able to exhibit and be a part of the audience to such knowledgeable speakers. We greatly appreciated the insights we were able to take away from the 2-day conference, as well as the engaging conversations we had on the show floor. We look forward to next year’s STORE Conference!

The OrderDynamics Booth at STORE 2013

eCommera Broadens Global Ecommerce Leadership With Acquisition of OrderDynamics™

JUNE 3, 2013 – LONDON & TORONTO – eCommera, the leader in Decision-Intelligent Commerce solutions, announced today the acquisition of OrderDynamics™, Canada’s leading Order Management System (OMS) and commerce platform for multi-channel retail. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

eCommera is one of the fastest growing providers of cloud- based commerce software and solutions globally. This acquisition adds a market-leading cloud-based order management product to the eCommera portfolio, enhancing the company’s existing client offerings of an omni-channel, end-to-end commerce platform, DynamicCommerce™ and first-of-its-kind decision intelligence analytics solution, DynamicAction™.

“Retailers are investing in omni-channel commerce as they recognize that it is the key strategy for growth. In order for today’s global retailers to be successful, they require not only a powerful commerce platform, and decision analytics, but also integrated customer order management across multiple online and offline channels,” said Andrew McGregor, co-founder and CEO, eCommera. “Together with OrderDynamics, we see a significant global opportunity in this underserved OMS market”.

The growing importance of OMS is recognized by industry analysts. “Tomorrow's orders will be sourced from a wide variety of locations that include not only the fulfillment center but also drop-ship vendors, distributors, stores, and third-party logistics providers that may either regionally stage high-demand products or support seasonal inventory volumes — or both,” stated a report by Forrester Research, Inc.. “Order management capabilities are critical to driving a high-quality consumer experience.” 1

OrderDynamics is a cloud OMS and commerce platform serving more than 30 multi-channel retailers in North and Central America. The OrderDynamics OMS is uniquely designed for retailers supporting their move to omni-channel through a modular toolset running in their retail stores and across all digital channels. The system features include in-store pickup, endless aisle, distributed fulfillment, and single view of the customer and inventory across all channels.

“We are excited to be joining the eCommera family and helping our combined clients become a part of the omni-channel revolution in retail” said Michael Benadiba, CEO, OrderDynamics. “eCommera is respected throughout the world as a leader in cloud based commerce solutions. Their experience and investment will extend the global reach of our OMS software and accelerate growth in our existing markets. As retailers cease to recognize geographic boundaries as roadblocks to their business advancement, our combined organization is better positioned than ever to aid clients’ strategic and rapid international growth.”

The combined businesses will serve 70 brands and retailers across the globe through their offices in London, Toronto, San Francisco, Dallas, Paris, Sofia (Bulgaria) and Pune, Vadadora (India). OrderDynamics will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of eCommera and will continue to operate as OrderDynamics and be led by its current management team.

About eCommera

eCommera is the leading provider of Decision-Intelligent Commerce solutions to omni-channel retailers.

Decision-Intelligent Commerce breaks down the channel, operational and functional silos in retail. It provides a unified approach centered on the customer and delivers the operational insight, direction and recommended actions that business users require to maximize profit.

^1”The Forrester Wave™: B2C Commerce suites, Q3 2012”, Forrester Research, September, 2012

 

OrderDynamics Set to Exhibit at IRCE 2013 This Week!

OrderDynamics is getting set to exhibit at the 2013 Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition for the 5th year in a row.  From June 4-7, McCormack Place in Chicago will once again be home to the largest display of eCommerce services and technology with over 600 exhibitors.  This year OrderDynamics can be found at booth #230, which is located within Pavilion D, home of various order management and fulfillment solutions.

The 4-day event will be an excellent arena for networking and education featuring sessions from some of the best industry experts including Forrester Research, Bronto, Facebook and IR 500 retailers Charlotte Russe, Urban Outfitters, Beyond the Rack and more.  Special Guest Speaker, former Vice President of the United States, Al Gore, will be speaking on June 5 on global internet business based on his experiences as Director at Apple Inc., Senior Advisor at Google, and Chairman of The Climate Reality Project, which will be truly exciting.

In addition to sessions, IRCE 2013 will host day-long workshops on eCommerce Technology, Competing & Cooperating with Amazon, Mobile Commerce, and Social Commerce. Sen Kanthaswamy, Manager of eCommerce Business Development of OrderDynamics client, Henry’s Camera, will be one of the speakers at the Social Commerce workshop on June 7, discussing Henry’s Camera’s application of Facebook data to improve customer experience and satisfaction.

OrderDynamics is looking forward to connecting with fellow vendors, retailers, and partners at booth #230, or at our eCommerce after party on June 5.  Contact us for more details around our exclusive networking party . 

Feel free to stop by our booth, or look for us at one of the many networking sessions throughout the 4-day event.  We look forward to seeing you at IRCE 2013!

OrderDynamics Google Updates Report – May 2013

Search Engine Optimization specialists have their work cut out for them with recent Google Search changes. Thankfully, with new features in Google Analytics and Google Adwords, they have additional tools to help measure and strategize new initiatives.

Google Search

Google’s Matt Cutts created upset amongst search engine optimization specialists and webmasters on March 15 when he stated that Google would no longer be announcing Google Panda Updates in advance, or confirming them afterward.  Matt Cutts explained that Updates would no longer take place in monthly manual pushes, but rather Google would implement rolling updates, leading to more frequent but smaller updates. He did, however, confirm Panda Update #25 would take place throughout the subsequent weekend.

As future updates can only be speculated, this announcement would suggest that Google hopes to place a greater emphasis on continuous SEO efforts, rather than reactive or proactive initiatives to each Update.  Suspected major Updates were reported by Search Engine Land to have taken place April 5, and May 7, the latter of which caused as much as a 77% drop in search rank and traffic for many businesses.

The first algorithm update for Penguin (all previous changes to Penguin were refreshes, not updates) since its introduction in April 2012, was confirmed to have taken place on May 22. Google reported that Penguin 2.0 affected 2.3% of English search queries, including both big search rank boosts as well as drops. 

The key to good SEO optimization in 2013 has largely focused on link building via content creation and syndication; taking this into consideration, it can be deduced that Google’s moves to discontinue Panda announcements coupled with the Penguin update aim to discourage businesses from producing content that is highly promotional but provide no informative value to readers, and penalize those who continue to purchase and submit links to directories. The notion is that by creating articles that truly provides value to readers will be shared anyway, and will build a better backlink profile consisting of sites with good PageRank.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics rolled out Universal Analytics to all users on March 22. This enhanced version of Analytics features an increased focus on mobile data allowing tracking for:

• How customers interact with a site depending on the device they are using
• Mobile app performance
• Aggregate data between online and offline operations

Google Analytics Social Reports were also enhanced on March 26 to better analyze interactions with a site’s social content.  Two new reports were introduced:

•  Data Hub Activity – timelined list of social activities, and interactions around them
• Trackbacks – lists all backlinks to a site, as well as specific pages being linked to

The information in these reports were previously available by filtering through Network Referrals and Landing Pages, but are now their own unique reports.

Several improvements were made to Google Analytics’ Real Time Reporting from March through May. The first, on March 28, targeted Events Reporting – “Events” being activities such as mobile ad clicks, use of onsite tools, downloads, video views – which aim to track how different audiences (based on device, time of day, etc) initiate certain Events.  The March 28 update also included improved Content Breakdown to display in real time what percentage of visitors onsite are browsing via desktop, tablet or mobile, Shortcuts which save frequently applied filters for later use, and Real-time vs. Overall traffic activity comparisons.

On April 16, Google Analytics added Real-time Widgets. Users can combine several different widgets to measure very specific or niche traffic segments by allowing them to filter based on device type and location. For example, using Real-time Widgets, an Analytics user could track in real-time traffic originating from tablet devices only located in the UK.

An update on May 2 further upgraded Real-Time Reporting to also include real-time conversion tracking. This feature, however, remains very basic and cannot report on things like time spend on site or pages per visit.

Later in May, the Mobile App Analytics integration with Google Play was announced. The integration seeks to help app developers track where traffic to their app is coming from, the keywords being searched that drive traffic to apps, number of app views, and how many people go on to actually use the app post-download. In conjunction with Google Tag Manager, Analytics also announced the ability to make changes and improvements to mobile apps that will resonate even through already downloaded versions.

Additional improvements to Google Analytics include the implementation of detailed filters based on mobile, social, and ecommerce traffic.