Technology

A lot has changed when it comes to shopping over the last 18 months. Shopping in-store is still an option, but we know more consumers are turning to online shopping (70 percent of U.S. adults have purchased something online in the last month). Retailers are adapting to the ever-growing e-commerce boom and are investing in…

The busy holiday shopping season is already upon us, bringing today’s brands an important opportunity to strengthen relationships with new and existing customers. As increasing numbers of consumers rely on e-commerce to meet their shopping needs while the overtaxed supply chain is simultaneously slowing down order fulfillment, brands are competing to navigate this challenge. As…

In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Kristina Stidham discuss an article recently published by Total Retail titled, “4 ‘Symptoms’ That Point to a Headless Commerce ‘Cure’,” authored by Cory Cummings, co-founder and CEO of Pack Digital. In an e-commerce world obsessed with customer experience, headless commerce is the new…

When the pandemic hit, many brands were forced to limit store hours or close locations, often furloughing employees or eliminating jobs altogether. Now, as shoppers return and safety restrictions complicate the in-store experience, retailers are looking to hire once again — but this hasn’t been an easy task. According to CNBC, the number of available jobs…

The 2020 holiday shopping season challenged retailers more than any previous peak season. As safety-conscious consumers cautiously flocked to previously less utilized methods that included online shopping; buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS); curbside pickup; home delivery; and more for their seasonal gift-giving needs, retailers had to adapt quickly and scale these capabilities to meet…

In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Marie Albiges and Kristina Stidham discuss an article recently published by Total Retail titled, “The Retail Reverse Logistics Reckoning: Brands Cast Eyes to Returns Amid the E-Commerce Swell,” authored by Jeff Cashman, chief operating officer at GreyOrange. While retailers' supply chains were primarily focused on getting goods…

In an e-commerce world obsessed with finding a magic cure for creating the perfect customer experience (CX), headless commerce is the hot new elixir. Retailers have heard time and again how a headless website architecture improves speed and performance by decoupling the front-end and back-end of their core systems. It sounds so enticing that some…

There’s a common misconception that technology in general and artificial intelligence (AI) in particular will disrupt retail customer service the same way it disrupted manufacturing. Fear not. Technology is certainly contributing to contact center evolution, but uniquely human traits like empathy and situational dexterity are so central to the customer experience that robots will never…

The pandemic’s impact on consumer shopping habits, specifically the exponential growth in e-commerce, pushed retailers and distribution centers (DCs) to previously unimaginable limits. DC and retail operations were tasked with developing and implementing safety protocols while keeping up with elevated order volumes and increased consumer demand for fast deliveries. At the end of the day,…

Online retail is on a steady climb as consumers shift to digital channels for the convenience of using any device, anywhere, at any time to complete purchases. According to eMarketer, worldwide retail e-commerce sales are growing from $4.28 trillion in 2020 to $6.39 trillion in 2024, which is forecasted to correspond to 21.8 percent of total…