Technology

Since Amazon Echo’s 2014 launch, conversational commerce has been a hot topic of conversation in retail (pun intended). The biggest question: How can conversational commerce improve shopping experiences? For the last decade, the answer seemed to be it doesn’t. Consumers struggled to leverage these tools to shop, unless they were reordering a previous purchase. Conversational…

In an age where everyday goods cost more than ever, is our appetite for the finer things subsiding? According to Bank of America card data, credit card spending for luxury fashion is down 16 percent year-over-year, the product of a six-quarter-long decline. In October, one of the world’s top luxury retailers saw its stock drop…

Microsoft and Google strategically unveiled their generative artificial intelligence capabilities for the retail industry in time for the National Retail Federation's 2024 Big Show in New York, capturing the attention of the world's leading retailers and industry leaders at this premier event. These offerings, spanning customer engagement, shopper journey experiences, and operational enhancements, align seamlessly…

There's just one problem: consumers might not like artificial intelligence, at least not in an e-commerce context. Recently, we conducted a survey of 2,000 consumers, and its results on this front were unambiguous: 85 percent of shoppers reported that they were not interested in using AI to help make purchasing decisions, and 60 percent said…

In years past, the word “on-demand” has been used to describe videos or streaming services. However, I believe that “on-demand” can now be used to describe the expectations of today’s consumer. Customers now want a shopping experience that's always on, responds in real time, and gives the most up-to-date information. This has created a scenario…

In 2023, the e-commerce industry was largely focused on strengthening brand equity, enhancing the customer experience, and keeping up with the evolution fueled by new platforms and artificial intelligence-based technologies. Notably, the adoption of composable commerce, which refers to building a modular, component-based, cloud-native tech stack, empowered companies to build the agility required to remain…

While at NRF 2024: Retail's Big Show in New York City, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan spoke with Glenn Allison, vice president of IT applications development at Tractor Supply Company, and Shash Anand, senior vice president of product strategy at SOTI, an industry leader in simplifying business mobility solutions. Allison and Anand discuss the use of artificial…

In episode 437 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Kevin Duffy, CEO of iFIT, a global fitness and connected content company operating brands NordicTrack, ProForm, and Freemotion. Listen in as Duffy provides an overview of the fitness technology business (0:45), how iFIT creates engaging, personalized experiences for its members (2:15), identifies its key…

While at NRF 2024: Retail's Big Show in New York City last week, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviewed Barbara Hagen, vice president of sales and marketing at ThriftBooks, an independent online used book seller, to discuss the company's use of artificial intelligence. Hagen provides a brief overview of the company and discusses its growth over its…

In the ever-evolving landscape of retail, businesses are constantly seeking innovative ways to keep pace with changing consumer preferences, market dynamics, and technology advancements. The MACH architecture principles — microservices, API-first, cloud-native, and headless — have emerged as a powerful framework for retailers looking to transform their store systems, break free from legacy constraints, and…