Digital Innovation

Was it just a year ago that all the buzz in retail was around “experiential retailing”? When Canada Goose, the clothing company, was creating arctic zones in its stores so customers could feel just how warm a CG parka would keep them? One exceptionally long year and one global pandemic later, the retail landscape has…

The world of commerce is continually changing and evolving as a direct impact of technological advances. In 2020, we learned how much technology can shape our experiences and how important it is to use it correctly to make customer journeys frictionless. Consumer expectations shift quickly, and everything in retail changes rapidly. In fact, I would…

The retail industry was massively disrupted with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Stores were shuttered and consumers had no choice but to make online purchases for items deemed non-essential. For primarily store-based retailers, this seismic shift was a major reality check, and in the most extreme cases, led to permanent closures and…

So much of life today is happening in front of the television. For consumers in the U.S., most of whom are spending far more time at home, the TV has once again become the cornerstone of daily entertainment and family time. According to Nielsen, viewership amid the pandemic has increased by as much as 60…

The pandemic transformed the way we shop almost overnight, leading to an immediate rise in digital grocery sales. Shipt and Instacart responded to increased demand for grocery delivery by hiring thousands of additional workers. Many retailers, both physical and digital, followed suit with more hires of their own. While I believe that consumers will ultimately…

It was early 2020. Retail was confident it had the right marketing strategies, technology and understanding to reach and guide customers, no matter where they were and under any circumstance. Then suddenly everything changed and one of the very few unanticipated scenarios came into being. A pandemic required everyone to hunker down, undermined confidence, raised…

The peak of the holiday shopping season is upon us, and in a year of uncertainty, retail executives have needed to rethink priorities and strengthen their resilience against unknown challenges ahead. According to our Road to Election survey, 35 percent of business leaders said the nation’s pandemic response creates new risks for their organizations. Furthermore,…

2020 has been a year marked by a series of uncertainties. Many companies have seemingly been flying blind the past several months, attempting to weather the fallout from our COVID-19 new normal and pivot their operations in response to our anticipated next normal. Many business leaders are understandably somewhat disoriented by the rapid changes we've…

Holiday season 2020 ... bring it on. More than ever, consumers are longing for the joy the season typically brings, especially since life as we know it amidst the worst (and only) pandemic of our lifetime still looms. When we think of holiday shopping though — the crowds, tight spaces and just the sheer madness…

More than 6,300 U.S. stores are expected to close in 2020 amid a pandemic and ongoing changes to the brick-and-mortar model. Among them are some of the longest-running brands in retail, including Lord & Taylor, Victoria’s Secret, and Brooks Brothers. In order to re-stimulate the sector, retailers are mixing in digital solutions to create memorable…