Digital Innovation

How AI and Automation Can Help Retailers Survive 2021
March 23, 2021 at 7:39 pm

With the retail apocalypse showing no signs of slowing down, brands hoping to survive need to harness intelligent technologies to ensure they thrive. Retailers must look at ways to integrate innovative solutions and accept that infusing artificial intelligence (AI) through a chatbot on your website, while important, is no longer enough. Instead, retailers should use…

3 Retail Innovations That Can Augment Digital Experience in 2021 
March 22, 2021 at 11:17 pm

2020 has been a test by fire for the retail industry. It was thrown into a storm where there was an equal chance of survival as well as a fatal end. Retailers that made the right decisions, rewired their processes, and created new digital experiences were able to survive it. In fact, they were able…

Nordstrom Launches a Livestream Shopping Channel in the U.S.
March 17, 2021 at 3:48 pm

Nordstrom announced it will debut its own Livestream Shopping channel as part of a broader strategy to dive into e-commerce livestreaming, CNBC reported. E-commerce livestreaming is already very popular in Asia, and brands are trying to replicate that trend here. Shoppable livestreams, similar to QVC, have been slower to take off in the U.S. According to…

Why Your Flagship Store Should Be Digital in 2021
February 23, 2021 at 2:05 pm

Many omnichannel brands are still looking at e-commerce as one of many priorities for retail. In reality, it should be the priority. In a post-pandemic landscape, lack of commitment to a digital-first approach forces various sales channels to compete against each other to the detriment of a brand. A battle erupts over investment, inventory, marketing efforts and…

Assessing Retailers' Digital Maturation Amid a Pandemic
February 17, 2021 at 9:41 pm

No one, not even Nostradamus, could have predicted what 2020 became. Had anyone even heard the term "essential retailer" before March of last year? Could anyone have predicted that toilet paper would have the same scarcity as a couture dress? While the pandemic continues, the apparel/fashion industry and the consumers it serves have settled into…

'Omni-Always' Approach Fuels Bed Bath & Beyond's Transformation
February 15, 2021 at 5:15 pm

In episode 285 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Gregg Melnick, executive vice president and chief stores officer at Bed Bath & Beyond. Listen in as Melnick discusses how the retail chain has transformed at an accelerated rate due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the value of operating within an "omni-always" lens, and how…

Retailers Must Innovate to Thrive in the New Normal
February 6, 2021 at 7:21 pm

As customer expectations continue to shift in an increasingly digital world, shoppers have come to want products in the fastest and simplest way possible — even in the middle of a devastating pandemic. To say the retail landscape in 2020 was difficult would be an understatement. Brick-and-mortar stores were hit by a rapid downturn in…

QVC Debuts on YouTube TV
February 1, 2021 at 5:00 pm

Quarate Retail Group's QVC last week made its debut on YouTube TV, a live TV streaming service with more than 3 million subscribers. YouTube TV is available across smart TVs, streaming media players, smartphone apps, tablets, computers, game consoles, and smart displays. QVC is currently the only livestream shopping channel on  YouTube TV, according to Quarte Retail. It now joins YouTube TV’s lineup of…

Is COVID-19 Presenting Businesses With the Ideal Opportunity to Invest in Innovation?
January 20, 2021 at 10:33 am

In-store businesses continue to confront evolving challenges, competing priorities, and a sense of uncertainty when it comes to the sustained impact of COVID-19 on their operations. One of the most pressing questions being faced is whether to invest in solutions that offer customers a more convenient and innovative checkout experience. While forward-thinking in-store businesses already…