Digital Innovation

Why the ‘Voice Revolution’ Will Lead to a Boom in Voice Commerce
August 28, 2019 at 11:17 am

Interacting with voice assistants is becoming a part of our daily lives. From smartphones and smart TVs to wearables and even microwaves, it’s hard to name a device that hasn’t been — or won’t soon be — enhanced with voice-enabled technology in some capacity. Despite its growth, voice assistant technology is a largely untapped resource.…

3 Crucial Challenges Retailers Can Overcome With AIOps
August 20, 2019 at 10:29 am

The age of digital disruption has arguably impacted retailers more than any other industry, with well-known brands going out of business or closing stores on a regular basis and consumers increasingly choosing online shopping over brick-and-mortar because of convenience. With pressure to stay competitive, when an outage of any kind (point-of-sale system, inventory management, etc.)…

Understanding Your Customers is at the Heart of Retail Success
August 19, 2019 at 11:56 am

In 1998, economist B. Joseph Pine II wrote that the world of retail was changing. He noted that the service economy was coming to an end, soon to be replaced with an economy based on memorable experiences and shared events. Now, over 20 years later, the "experience economy" has moved from an academic theory into…

Brick-and-Mortar Retail Can’t Risk Missing Out on Virtual Shopping Assistants
August 19, 2019 at 11:33 am

Brick-and-mortar retail is getting dissed by millennials, who increasingly prefer to shop online. With millennials representing an estimated $1.4 trillion in purchasing power, brick-and-mortar retailers can’t afford to ignore their needs as e-commerce and subscription services eat into market share. In the words of Vanilla Ice, retailers need to “stop, collaborate and listen,” brick-and-mortar retail…

Real-Time Retail: How Technology Shapes Our Brand Experience
August 5, 2019 at 12:33 pm

The modern-day retail environment is anything but stagnant. With a rise in e-commerce shopping and delivery, consumers’ desire for efficiency and convenience reigns supreme. With this, traditional brick-and-mortar retailers cannot rely solely on historical insights to guide them through the next phase of buying and selling. SAP’s recent study, conducted by leading industry analyst Forrester…

Digital Transformation by Christmas: What Retailers Still Aren’t Getting Right With Technology
July 19, 2019 at 11:02 am

In both retail and marketing, there’s a “conversation” with customers in some way. Whether it’s merchandising, in-home or digital flyers, banner ads, in-store marketing, events, or email, every day there's communication with customers to see what works. What was the magical “thing” that resulted in the purchase decision? One of the biggest shifts over the…

How is Wireless Power Impacting the Retail Industry?
July 18, 2019 at 1:31 pm

With the growing preference for online shopping, combined with customers who can instantly compare prices and reviews with their smartphones, the expectations and needs of the brick-and-mortar shopper are rapidly evolving. As a result, physical retailers have been in a race to deploy new technologies to provide a better experience in the hopes of keeping…

Breathe New Life Into Shopping Experiences With Interactive Visual Content Tools
June 11, 2019 at 11:55 am

A new generation of visual tools is now available to bring the physical environment into the shopping process, allowing consumers to locate, evaluate and share products in new ways. Thanks to the near ubiquity of smartphones, consumers are viewing — and creating — more visual content than ever. This has made image-centric social media networks among…

Amazon Launches AI-Powered Shopping Feature in App
June 6, 2019 at 5:05 pm

Amazon.com launched an artificial intelligence-powered shopping feature in its app called StyleSnap at the re: MARS 2019 conference in Las Vegas yesterday. The tool enables users to upload a photo or screenshot of a particular fashion look they admire from pictures on magazines, websites or social media posts, and then get similar product recommendations from Amazon's apparel…

AI in Retail: It’s Not Just for the Fortune 500 Anymore
May 29, 2019 at 2:05 pm

A new study from IDC predicts retailers will spend $5.9 billion this year alone on artificial intelligence (AI) tools like automated customer service and product recommendations. Furthermore, 79 percent of retail and consumer products companies expect to use intelligent automation to learn more about their customers by 2021. Yes, retailers are making big investments in…