Retail Tech: PacSun Deploys Omnichannel POS, Convoy Mulls Sale
The weekly Retail Tech Roundup compiles technology news across the supply chain, manufacturing, retail, e-commerce, logistics and fulfillment sectors.
Point of sale
PacSun/Manhattan Associates
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PacSun, a specialty retailer of emerging youth brands and trending fashion, has selected Manhattan Active Point of Sale from supply chain solutions provider Manhattan Associates to enhance its omnichannel sales strategy and unify the customer shopping experience.
By adding Point of Sale to its Manhattan Active Omni Order Management implementation, PacSun aims to enhance interactions with its customers, ensuring a consistent experience across all channels as part of its shift to unified commerce.
PacSun also uses Manhattan Active Omni’s order management, store inventory and fulfillment capabilities. Expanding its solution set to include Manhattan Active Point of Sale rounds out the company’s omnichannel offerings and gives associates a single, intuitive experience across all in-store selling, engagement and fulfillment functions. This solution helps PacSun deliver a more personalized and modern shopping experience to consumers at the most important touchpoint—the point of sale.
“The addition of Manhattan Active Point of Sale is a pivotal moment for PacSun as we solidify our position as a leader in unified commerce,” said Shirley Gao, chief information officer of PacSun, in a statement. “We highly value the comprehensive and robust nature of the entire suite of Manhattan Active Omni solutions, including Point of Sale. This powerful application gives us access to advanced Omnicart capabilities, customer interaction insights, clienteling, customer-controlled fulfillment and endless aisle functionality to deliver an advanced omnichannel shopping experience to our customers.”
Janie and Jack/PredictSpring
Premium children’s fashion brand Janie and Jack has integrated Modern POS from PredictSpring, a provider of omnichannel commerce and modern point of sale (POS) technology, within 106 of its stores across the U.S. PredictSpring’s omnichannel solution is designed to unify the online and in-store shopping experience and help empower Janie and Jack store associates to manage inventory, consult with customers and complete transactions faster.
“Janie and Jack is a design house with every kid at its heart, and we are thrilled to continue meeting the needs of our customers through the integration of PredictSpring’s Modern POS system,” said Mo Beig, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Janie and Jack. “The transition from our legacy POS system to PredictSpring’s Modern POS has revolutionized our ability to provide highly personalized, fast, and seamless omnichannel journeys to our valued customers.”
Janie and Jack deployed the PredictSpring platform in 18 weeks, offering customers microservices-based API architecture to integrate with the brand’s CRM and other backend systems. The platform’s clienteling features provide associates with customer information including Customer 360, which can further help associates deliver one-to-one customer experiences.
Within the platform, the retailer gives access to real-time order and inventory management and improvements to real-time reports, and offers remote payment options for ship-from-store orders.
PredictSpring Modern POS provides supports full POS, mPOS, cash management, clienteling, endless aisle, inventory management and curbside pickup.
Trucking
Convoy
Seattle trucking marketplace startup Convoy is weighing strategic alternatives that could include a sale of the company, according to The Information.
Once valued at $3.8 billion last April after a $260 million funding round, Convoy reportedly hired an investment bank within the past few months to explore options that could also include a merger or a large investment from a strategic investor.
The company engaged the bank after receiving interest from potential suitors in the logistics sector over the past year, The Information reported.
Sourcing Journal reached out to Convoy.
Convoy has had four rounds of layoffs over the past 13 months span as a freight recession has depressed trucking costs and resulted in thousands of companies exiting the trucking market, including nationwide less-than-truckload (LTL) company Yellow.
Founded in 2015 and backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, Convoy leverages a model that automates the pairing of shipments with carriers—effectively saving money for shippers, reducing the legwork and hassle for carriers and helping the industry operate sustainably with less carbon emissions. Truck drivers can download Convoy’s app to find work without going through brokers who typically use emails and phone calls.
By exploring various M&A options, Convoy wants to increase volume on its platform, and become profitable, according to the report.
Convoy laid off staff in June and February, and closed the Atlanta office it opened in 2019. Last year, the company cut workers in October and June.
Co-founder Grant Goodale announced in June that he would step down from his position as chief experience officer and transition to an advisory role.
Fit technology
Volumental/Outdoor & Cycle Concepts Limited (O&CC)
U.K.-based outdoor and sports retailer Outdoor & Cycle Concepts Limited (O&CC) has partnered with 3D foot scanning fit technology platform Volumental, rolling the tech out to 28 stores after a successful pilot.
During the pilot phase conducted in five O&CC locations, the integration of Volumental’s foot scanners resulted in a 28 percent reduction in product returns compared to the same period in the previous year. In contrast, stores without scanners experienced only an 8 percent decrease in returns, marking a 350 percent improvement between both sets of stores.
This expansion ensures that a broader range of outdoor enthusiasts can benefit from the fitting technology, enhancing their overall shopping experience.
O&CC stores offer customers free footwear fitting appointments tailored to their specific needs. For hikers and walkers, the Outdoor Footwear Fitting service helps find the ideal walking shoes or boots. Meanwhile, runners can benefit from the Gait Analysis service, which analyzes their running style on a treadmill, enabling in-store experts to make the best recommendations for road or trail running shoes. The integration of Volumental’s scanners can complement these expert services, allowing for even more precise recommendations and personalized fittings.
Volumental’s foot scanners provide customers with detailed 3D scans of their feet, accompanied by in-store recommendations. This can data become a valuable resource for future purchases, both in-store and online. Volumental’s research reveals that approximately 40 percent of shoes do not align with the size charts provided by brands, often resulting in costly and wasteful returns. By leveraging advanced technology encompassing computer vision, purchase data and AI algorithms, Volumental aims to ensure more accurate and personalized sizing recommendations, ultimately with the goal to increase consumer satisfaction and minimize guesswork in online purchases.
Returns
ParcelLab
ParcelLab, a provider of post-purchase customer experience software, has launched Retain, a new product designed to provide brands with the flexibility and customization options needed to reduce costs, recover more revenue and make returns more sustainable.
Retain uplevels the returns, warranty and exchange process from paper to digital, featuring a digital returns portal as well as tracking and communications to enable customers to register their returns, get a label or QR code and track returns. Personalized emails and a customized Returns Status Page deliver end-to-end post-purchase communication to drive web traffic and repeat purchases.
Returns remain an untapped part of the post-purchase experience and the next revenue retention opportunity for brands. A recent ParcelLab study found that brands’ return policies influence 92 percent of consumers—and 54 percent of consumers expect access to the return process status at any time. To meet this overwhelming market demand, ParcelLab developed Retain to empower retailers to deliver their customers the tools and transparency they require while ensuring personalized journeys that build and sustain customer loyalty over time.
Retain is supported by ParcelLab’s enterprise-grade infrastructure that brings together multiple data sources to provide brands with greater visibility into the post-purchase journey. The platform’s flexible and intuitive data model works to speed up retailers’ ability to personalize returns experiences, such as managing multi-shipment returns, presenting content specific returns reasons, equipping customer service agents with returns process overrides and delivering targeted content by customer segment.
Once implemented in 10 weeks by ParcelLab’s dedicated and specialist implementation team of data scientists, logistics experts, and project managers, the company says its partner brands typically experience eight new touch points, a 10 percent increase in customer retention, and 5 percent fewer returns that allow retailers to build upon the foundation of their loyal customer bases.
Livestreaming
CommentSold/Popshoplive
Live selling technology CommentSold has acquired the assets of mobile live streaming marketplace Popshoplive, in a move that brings the company into direct-to-consumer commerce.
The launch of the new Popshoplive platform, now called Popshoplive Powered by CS, coincides with the wide launch of CommentSold’s dropshipping capabilities, resulting to form an end-to-end creator commerce platform.
With the revamped version of Popshoplive, powered by CS, creators will have the opportunity to sell products directly to their followers in place of referring them to brands, via their own uniquely branded storefront. This enables them to track every transaction and own their customer base, according to Gautam Goswami, CEO of CommentSold.
Once available exclusively to large boutiques and enterprises, CommentSold’s turnkey suite of e-commerce features will now become accessible to established creators, newly-minted influencers, “solopreneurs” looking for extra income, and major brands seeking to forge deeper relationships with their customers.
By signing up for Popshoplive, sellers will gain access to a creator marketplace known for its intuitive interface and ease of use. Now with CommentSold-powered infrastructure enhancements, it becomes the ideal place for creators to jump in and monetize their following instantly.
Sellers can source items from a catalog of trending products to offer their shoppers new deals constantly. The CommentSold platform automatically manages inventory levels, handles listing details and fulfills orders from the seller’s storefront.
In addition to the storefronts, sellers can build their own websites with CS’s customizable, template-driven website builder. This is ideal for sellers to start building their own audience databases. These websites automatically feature seller-curated dropship items as e-commerce listings.
With the existing consumer funnel in Popshoplive’s marketplace, combined with CommentSold’s e-commerce and dropship capabilities, sellers can have more capabilities to build their own brand. Typical sign-up to go-live time is one business day after account approval.
Popshoplive’s marketplace is particularly amenable to smaller creators and solopreneurs, providing a stage for talented individuals to create and host their own live selling show and build their communities. Since its founding in 2018, Popshoplive has been a runaway hit with collectible sellers, fostering a vibrant and passionate user community that CommentSold.
As a result of the transaction, Popshoplive employees and executives have rolled into the larger CommentSold team. The transaction comes as CommentSold, now a partner with TikTok, facilitated over 147 million items sold from over 7,000 small to enterprise-sized retailers on the platform.
Fulfillment
JP Outfitters/Cart.com
Apparel manufacturer, screen printer and embroiderer JP Outfitters has selected Cart.com, a provider of commerce and logistics solutions that are designed to enable merchants to sell and fulfill anywhere regardless of channel, as its U.S. fulfillment partner.
Under the new partnership, Cart.com will leverage its order and inventory management capabilities and 3PL expertise to manage operations at JP Outfitters’ fulfillment facility near Cincinnati, Ohio.
Cart.com’s omnichannel 3PL services enable B2C and B2B customers to streamline fulfillment operations, reduce costs and achieve real-time order and inventory visibility using the company’s proprietary software and predictive analytics.
The JP Outfitters warehouse adds to Cart.com’s network of 12 other omnichannel facilities nationwide. Cart.com leverages its expertise and technology across its network of self-operated fulfillment centers to provide speed, flexibility, security and convenience for emerging and enterprise brands alike.
“We knew we wanted to optimize our warehouse operations, but were concerned about the disruptions and quality issues that come with switching to a traditional 3PL provider,” said Arnold Cohen, CEO of JP Outfitters. “Cart.com came up with a creative solution that gives us the flexibility to grow our business without having to worry about scaling our owned facility ourselves. The company’s strong operating culture, expertise and state-of-the-art technology make Cart.com the right partner for us.”
Cart.com’s nationwide distribution centers cover over 6.5 million square feet of facility space. Its software also supports over $5 billion in gross merchandise value, over 20,000 online points of sale and $10 trillion in product listings annually.
Last-mile delivery
OneRail/Bungii
OneRail, a provider of last-mile omnichannel fulfillment solutions, has finalized its integration with Bungii, a “big and bulky” last-mile delivery firm, into the OneRail OmniPoint platform, which is built to intelligently match last-mile deliveries with couriers in real time.
This integration creates a bidirectional flow of data between the OneRail platform and Bungii, to provide a dependable, scalable and affordable last-mile solution.
Operationally, OneRail identifies exceptions and manages the logistics of each delivery through proof of delivery. Conversely, Bungii is a premium delivery solution that combines speed, reliability and the ability to flex during peak seasons.
OneRail can now access its national network of over 10,000 certified pickup trucks, trailers and cargo vans to deliver big and bulky products. Bungii drivers must pass an 18-point safety standard to ensure a consistent, professional experience. Their drivers achieve a 99 percent five-star customer rating and 99 percent on-time service level agreement (SLA).
Customer experience
La-Z-Boy/InMoment
La-Z-Boy has selected InMoment’s omnichannel listening Experience Improvement (XI) Platform.
The XI technology leverages InMoment’s text analytics engine and deep learning AI to allow users to listen, learn and act on all of the data signals within La-Z-Boy. It is a dynamic omnichannel product built to listen to the signals that drive a modern retail business, including: website, call center, chat, social media channels and supply chain. This breadth of signals allows La-Z-Boy to determine what’s really happening with customers and where they should focus their time and resources.
“In today’s tumultuous world, we understand the importance of creating a company that is dedicated to delivering products that contribute to positive ‘me’ time and ‘we’ time for family and friends,” said Jorge Calvachi, director of insights, La-Z-Boy, in a statement. “Our collaboration with InMoment allows us to understand, in greater detail, our customers’ wants and needs and helps us know how they feel so we can capture the hearts of our customers by creating superior experiences and products.”
La-Z-Boy understands the importance of breaking down internal data silos and sharing feedback analysis of customer trends throughout the organization. This collaboration aims to provide customers a consistent experience eliminating friction points in the customer journey and understand the sentiment and intention of La-Z-Boy customers through every interaction with the brand.
Fraud prevention
ClearSale
Global business intelligence and risk prevention provider ClearSale has released a new Client Portal, used by customers to view and manage their fraud prevention data, orders and chargebacks.
The ClearSale Client Portal offers the ability to see fraud detection and prevention information from a high level all the way down to individual transactions. With a reimagined interface, customers can access a sleeker and more intuitive user experience and new features designed to make understanding and analyzing their fraud data easier and managing transactions, and chargebacks, more efficient.
Customers will see aggregated fraud data for their stores on their personalized dashboards, with the ability to view chargeback information, a comparison of total transactions versus approved, a roll-up of avoided fraud and more. Customers also can drill down into specific orders to get data on order details, payments and even the transaction’s fraud score and specific fraud-related red flags.
The chargebacks screen offers an overview of all chargeback claims, a detailed view of each claim, and includes relevant documentation and data related to the chargeback. Each screen presents the information in a user-focused design, streamlining fraud management and analysis at every level.
In addition to user interface improvements, the ClearSale team enhanced functionality to core features based on real customer feedback. These improvements can support customers with a smoother fraud prevention and chargeback mitigation experience. The refreshed Client Portal also provides new features, highlighted by an overview of the initial analysis results on the order page. This summary of an order’s analysis can provide quicker access to individual order insights and information.
Some customers have had access to a beta release of the portal since early June. The August release will make all new features, functionality, and the revamped user interface available to all ClearSale customers, replacing the previous portal experience.
