Technology
Walking into a brick-and-mortar store today feels a bit apocalyptic. Employees now don gloves, facemasks and even the occasional face shield for added protection. There are stickers meticulously placed at six-foot intervals in front of checkout counters to help consumers abide by social distancing rules. Plexiglass shields now act as a protective barrier between cashiers…
After years of hype and anticipation, artificial intelligence (AI) is starting to have a real impact on the retail industry. Within the next few years, AI will transform retailing, affecting everything from cost structures to the customer experience. AI goes hand-in-hand with e-commerce, and surging e-commerce growth rates — accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic —…
Mobile technology use is soaring in retail, and for good reason. IHL Group found retailers that provide mobile sales tools for staff enjoy 77 percent higher sales growth than those that don’t, and those that deploy mobile point of sale (POS) achieve an impressive 92 percent higher sales. It’s rare to see such spectacular return…
A couple years ago retailers set a series of events in motion that inadvertently created one of the industry’s biggest challenges: how to manage the exponential rise in product returns while also meeting customers' high expectations. As it stands, artificial intelligence (AI) may be the only solution. How it Happened It all started with pure…
Daily trends and hashtags tend to inject buzzwords and phrases into the public zeitgeist at a moment's notice. One day, the scandal of the moment attracts the dreaded “-gate” suffix, and the next day, a novel term like "coronavirus" is all anyone can talk about. Warehouse automation doesn't carry near the number of implications as…
In the midst of recent announcements, what caught my eye was the opening of Amazon.com's first Fresh grocery store in Los Angeles. Retail is undergoing a massive upheaval, and I think it will come out the other side offering a significantly better customer experience. What do I think people are looking for? Availability of what…
Organizations are headed into the most unusual holiday shopping season in recent memory, and instead of focusing on how to obtain and keep customers, they’re bogged down in day-to-day business processes. In fact, top concerns among retailers this season are forecasting, obtaining adequate stock, and keeping staff and customers safe, according to a recent survey…
As we near a holiday season like none before it, retailers must be proactive in addressing the ways in which COVID-19 has changed typical shopping behaviors and expectations. According to a new survey from RetailMeNot, 75 percent of Americans say they’ll prefer to shop online this year, and the same amount will aim to complete…
Budgeting for the new year isn’t always easy to plan for, especially in unprecedented times. In order to gain deeper insights into retail, I turned to industry veterans Rich Pedott and Daniel Binder of Columbus Consulting. One way to streamline the process of keeping budgets in check while accommodating vendors is to use artificial intelligence…
COVID-19 has changed everything. The retail ecosystem has been impacted more than any other industry. Now, the industry is tiptoeing to the most important time of year: the holidays. In-store traffic is down over 50 percent from a year ago, and let’s not forget that this traffic had already decreased every month for over six…