Technology

In episode 314 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Jonas Stillman, director of store systems at Office Depot, a leading provider of business services, products and digital workplace technology solutions. Stillman discusses his role at the company, how his responsibilities shifted over the last year-plus of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the changes he's…

If you're in the retail business, one of your worst nightmares is being stuck with boxes and boxes of unsold inventory taking up space in your warehouse. Wasted stock can be a huge cost to your bottom line and pose serious risks to your business. For eco-conscious brands, a lot of unsold inventory is also…

Retailers accelerated their shift toward e-commerce during the pandemic. But for all the excitement around e-commerce — a category eMarketer projects will grow by 13 percent in the U.S., totaling more than $900 billion in annual sales — the online shopping experience still has plenty of room for improvement, especially when it comes to assisted…

Like many industries, retailers are dealing with a shortage of labor at every level, from delivery drivers to store associates. As a result, they must often be prepared to do more with fewer resources, including handling irregular deliveries and replenishment schedules as well as managing available inventory for maximum efficiency and sales. Meanwhile, a new…

If, like me, you’re of a certain age, you’ll be able to remember the first version of the Apple website. It was all text, had an appalling layout, and was light years from today’s sleek offering. Although that was all of 10 years before the first iPhone appeared so we shouldn’t be too hard on…

It's no secret the pandemic completely upended how retailers approach serving their customers, from rethinking omnichannel experiences to working through some major supply chain disruptions. Now, as we begin a return to a level of normalcy, retailers are looking for ways to keep their customers happy and ensure they’re ready to face future hurdles caused…

In episode 310 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Jeff Swearingen, global senior vice president of demand accelerator, venturing and global business services at PepsiCo, an American-based multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation. Swearingen discusses the business and consumer changes PepsiCo has experienced in the last year-and-a-half during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how his…

The pandemic and subsequent acceleration of digital transformation made the cloud a rallying point for the entire C-suite. When COVID-19 hit, retailers needed to pivot to strategies like online delivery and adjust their supply chains based on constantly changing conditions. Cloud-enabled retailers had the visibility and data to make these changes quicker than analog counterparts.…

Luxury fashion brands were once infamously technophobic. Unlike direct-to-consumer (D-to-C) brands born with digital in their DNA, luxury was slow to embrace e-commerce. Iconic names and signature styles were enough to secure a loyal following, and most high-end consumers preferred to shop in stores. But recently — especially during the pandemic-induced e-commerce boom — this…

Traditional chatbots have become commonplace on e-commerce sites, yet too many are becoming unreliable and are alienating consumers due to their limitations. This is because many retailers rely on what's called "rule-based" chatbots when instead they should be implementing conversational artificial intelligence (AI), two terms often used interchangeably, but which are actually very different. Conversational…