Store associates play a starring role in the brick-and-mortar experience. By offering customers product recommendations and guiding them throughout the browsing and buying journey, associates can influence a sale. Associate training and empowerment is vital to improving store sales and engagement, as new research from Experticity confirms that empowered employees sell 87% more on the sales floor.

During the annual shareholders meeting, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. executives outlined plans to serve customers and improve brand experience by leveraging three core principles: customer-centricity, ongoing innovation in technology, and increased investment in store associates. The retail giant hosted up to 14,000 shareholders, including thousands of associates from 27 countries at the event, which took place in Bentonville, Ark. By becoming a customer-driven company, Walmart will focus on making decisions “based on how we can serve them better,” said Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart, during the shareholders meeting.

New predictions from Forrester Research confirm that mobile commerce has reached a tipping point. Total smartphone and tablet transactions in the U.S. are expected to total $114 billion this year, according to the forecast. In addition, 29% of all e-Commerce transactions will be completed on mobile devices. Retailers are trying to keep pace with today’s cross-channel shoppers by implementing mobile commerce strategies that span across marketing, clienteling and payment.

Shoppers are no longer sticking to a single channel when interacting with retailers and venturing through the buying cycle. As consumers become more omnichannel in their shopping habits, retailers need to learn the best ways to engage these customers to drive sales and loyalty. In a recent Connected Consumer Series webinar, titled: Investing For Success In Omnichannel Retailing, executives from Retails Systems Research and Junction Solutions discussed how the customer buying cycle has changed, and best practices for retailers striving to adapt their businesses to keep pace. “The world has dramatically changed,” said Paula Rosenblum, Managing Partner at Retail Systems Research. “In the past, consumer-based behaviors were pretty much orderly — and that has fundamentally changed. It has since changed to a very chaotic pattern, and there are now many different paths to purchase. This has become what we have come to know as the omnichannel phenomenon.”

Even though most final purchases are still completed in-store, shoppers are spending more time online prior to arriving at the POS. Two specific phenomena are affecting the buying journey today, explained Russell Evans, VP of Marketing at ShopperTrak, in a recent Connected Consumer Series webinar, titled: Tapping Into The Benefits Of Next-Generation Store Analytics: Showrooming: When shoppers conduct online research while standing in the store, then complete those purchases online. Webrooming: When shoppers spend time researching products online before going to the store. Perimeter Analytics = More shoppers; Interior Analytics = More buyers; and Performance Analytics = More revenue.

Shoppers have become savvier, and are leveraging new technologies in order to stay digitally connected at all times. While the emergence of these Always-On Consumers (AOC) presents great opportunities to engage shoppers across a variety of channels, many retailers have struggled to understand and effectively market to this consumer group. Nearly half (48%) of the consumers are members of the AOC base, according to a recent study from Vivaldi Partners. But this group of shoppers has been a tough audience to engage — especially since only 39% are open to brand engagement and advertising.

Payment security has become a priority investment for many retailers. In light of the looming 2015 EMV deadline, many merchants are implementing EMV capabilities coinciding with POS upgrades or adding peripherals that accept contact and contactless payment. Because EMV implementations can be very costly, some merchants are putting off the investment. But as many as 30% of retailers, are planning to make a POS purchase decision within the next 12 months, according to IHL Group, which could translate to a sharp increase in EMV adoption.

The madness surrounding Fashion Month 2014 has calmed. But that doesn’t mean fashion pundits and marketing gurus have stopped chatting about the new wave of marketing sparked by this year’s festivities. New York Fashion Week (NYFW) especially generated buzz because the event showed a more personal and intimate side, thanks to the powers of social media and mobility. More designers, fashion editors and bloggers were turning to Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to take “selfies,” photos and videos of live runway shows. As a result, everyday consumers had VIP access to what was once considered one of the most exclusive events of the year. Social media has changed the ways consumers relate to fashion and has made the luxury space more accessible than ever, according to Apu Gupta, CEO of Curalate. NYFW is testament to the fact that “you can still build a high fashion brand and still make it approachable. We want to know more about these brands other than the carefully manicured personas they put out there. There’s a desire to really see behind the scenes and see the brands' larger personalities. It’s almost the humanization of luxury brands.”

Through a new joint survey, Compare Metrics and the e-tailing group have concluded that 67% of shoppers want to shop online because they find it fun and efficient, but most respondents still find their current shopping experiences uninspiring.  The Shopper Navigation & Discovery Study was created to help retailers better understand how traditional online search capabilities influence the online buying experience. Study participants filled out an online questionnaire focused on the shopping tools they used and their level of satisfaction with the experience. In-person sessions were then conducted, allowing participants to demonstrate their experiences shopping on retail web sites and then compare them to shopping experiences using Adaptive Navigation. Of the 33 consumers involved in the study, 21 said they conduct 50% to 75% of their shopping online, while 11 conduct 25% to 50% online. Consumers were asked to rate their discovery experiences on top retail sites. Overall, respondents gave an average rating of 6 out of 10. More than half of respondents (52%) felt the majority of current web sites have become overwhelming due to a variety of factors, including irrelevant product details and content that distracts from visual elements.