Technology

Companies in many industries, including technology, construction, and healthcare, are completely revamping the way in which their manufacturing arms are designing, building, producing and servicing the goods they need for projects and customers. Just a short five years ago, these manufacturers began to embark on the second coming of their own industrial revolution. It wasn’t enough that the…

DSW is piloting self-checking stands in its stores in response to hiring challenges it's having, CNN reported. The retailer hopes automation is the solution to its lack of human workers. Karen Cho, senior vice president of human resources at Designer Brands (DBI), owner of DSW, told CNN that the self-checkout test started last year to…

Online retailers are facing a major crisis. Since COVID-19 hit, reduced headcount and social distancing practices within the walls of warehouses and distribution centers mean retail businesses are struggling to manage the stresses and strains of increased e-commerce demand, which is forecast to continue to soar. Grow Carefully While any increase in sales is good…

In episode 304 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Matt Powell, chief technology officer of FTD, a premier floral and gifting company. Powell discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic created a surge in gifting demand at the company, why FTD is focusing on improving its technology, and how the 110-year old company is reimagining its…

After a year in which person-to-person contact was all but banned, contactless payments, online ordering, and curbside pickup have become the norm. Out of necessity, consumer adoption of these technologies has accelerated. In fact, 78 percent of consumers globally have made changes to how they pay in the last year to utilize touchless forms of…

In this bonus episode of Total Retail Talks, Digital Content Director Kristina Stidham interviews Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan about Total Retail's recently published report, Automated Order Replenishment Drives High-Level BOPIS Execution .... and Customer Satisfaction, produced in conjunction with SPS Commerce. Listen in as Keenan shares a few key highlights from the report and how retailers can use automation…

Earlier this year, the National Retail Federation (NRF) released its 2021 retail sales forecast. NRF expects retail sales to rise between 6.5 percent and 8.2 percent over 2020, which equates to a $4.33 trillion uptick. This prediction hinges on the success of COVID-19 vaccinations and the re-opening of the economy, but should it play out,…

Everyone in retail has lamented, at one point or another, that “it’s everyone vs. Amazon.” Even the largest retail brands, like Target and Walmart, struggle to match the e-commerce machine of Amazon.com. Amazon itself started off (literally) in a garage, selling one thing: books. It disrupted the book sales industry with aggressive adoption of the…

To address the challenge of balancing inventory and gaining visibility into it, requirements for effective and efficient buy online, pickup in-store (BOPIS) and curbside pickup programs, retailers are increasingly turning to automated technology solutions. They’re automating order and delivery flows with their product suppliers through the use of EDI (i.e., the electronic interchange of business…

Our expert speakers will address how retailers can effectively use individualized promotions as a tool to drive e-commerce sales.