Technology

Black Friday in the Age of COVID-19: How Smart Retail Technology Can Help Brick-and-Mortar Survive
November 3, 2020 at 10:35 am

The arrival of the so-called “retail apocalypse” in the wake of the phenomenal growth of e-commerce may be approaching quicker than anticipated as countless brick-and-mortar stores shutter due to the global pandemic. And with many consumers wary of returning to physical storefronts anytime soon — preferring to make their purchases in the safety of their…

How Retailers Can Use Data Analytics to Bounce Back Post-COVID-19
November 2, 2020 at 3:07 pm

Up until the past year or two, most efforts with artificial intelligence (AI) in retail fell under the umbrella of “optimization.” For example, on the advertising side, AI is used to optimize ad placement, content and delivery based on various AI-reviewed inputs. For the online shopping experience, AI-powered tools provide retailers with product recommendations to…

The Future of Brick-and-Mortar Retail: Contactless, But Experience-Full, Part 2
October 29, 2020 at 10:13 am

Retail has undergone seismic shifts since the outbreak of COVID-19, when we radically changed the way we behave outside our homes — and whether we ever even leave our homes at all. Brick-and mortar retailers have had to radically restructure their operations, from click-and-collect options to refocusing on online shopping. As states gradually open back…

How Headless PWAs Are Changing E-Commerce
October 26, 2020 at 10:48 am

Things in the e-commerce industry are changing rapidly. As it stands, Amazon.com and Walmart are busy duking it out for digital retail supremacy. At the same time, more merchants are getting in on the game than ever before, with e-commerce on pace to account for nearly a quarter of all retail sales by 2023. At…

The Future of Brick-And-Mortar Retail: Contactless, But Experience-Full
October 22, 2020 at 5:44 pm

Although the future is unpredictable, some aspects of the post-COVID-19 retail shopping environment are coming into focus. Consumers will continue to buy products online, but there will remain occasions when a customer will want to return to the store. They won’t return, however, unless the shopping is contactless, experience-full and, most importantly, consumers genuinely feel…

Commerce Goes Vocal
October 13, 2020 at 1:41 pm

Voice recognition technology has come a long way since IBM introduced the Shoebox in 1961, which had a vocabulary of just over a dozen words. Today’s voice-enabled devices perform so many different tasks they’ve earned the nickname, “virtual assistants.” Some even have their own personalities. However, virtual assistants, like Alexa and Cortana, aren't just streaming music and delivering…

How Retail Can Survive the Holiday Season By Leaning on Technology
October 12, 2020 at 10:28 am

The back-to-school shopping season certainly looked dim this year, with many students not returning to the classroom. As we now look toward the holiday season, we can expect a change in holiday shopping habits, too. However, unlike back-to-school shopping, which essentially relies on being able to physically go back to school, holiday shopping will occur…

AI-Driven Copywriting Fuels eBay's Email Marketing Success
October 8, 2020 at 6:18 pm

In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Ashley Chiaradio discuss an article recently published on Total Retail titled, "How eBay Used AI-Powered Copywriting to Boost Email Marketing Performance," by Parry Malm, CEO and co-founder of Phrasee, a company that uses artificial intelligence (AI)-generated language to power advertising copy. The article…