Technology

Retail Checkout: Refocusing On the Moments That Matter Most
October 23, 2018 at 9:11 am

Modern retailers face growing pressure to deliver an in-store experience that attracts customers and keeps them coming back. While many retailers have started adopting technology to meet this need, one of the most critical in-store moments has gone unnoticed: checkout. The current checkout experience is very similar to how it worked decades ago, and this…

Tips to Help Your Brand Get Experiential Retail Right
October 22, 2018 at 11:44 am

The retail industry is undergoing a major transformation as e-commerce disrupts traditional brick-and-mortar store models and gives rise to new modes of “experiential retail” — last week's bankruptcy filing by Sears speaks to that trend. Experiential retail is being driven by a number of factors, including the increasing popularity of e-commerce, the decline in traditional…

Cosabella is Using AI to Better Connect With its Customers
October 19, 2018 at 11:44 am

In this special episode of Total Retail Talks, recorded at last month's Total Retail Tech conference, Guido Campello, CEO of Cosabella, gives a presentation on how the luxury lingerie brand is using artificial intelligence (AI) across its organization, from marketing (e.g., email automation) to website optimization (e.g., A/B testing) to product personalization.

Total Retail Tech Keynote Presentation Videos
October 18, 2018 at 1:52 pm

Below you will find the full-length videos of our keynote presentations at Total Retail Tech, an event held in September 2018 that brought together retail executives and leaders for content and conversations on the intersection of retail technology and marketing. The presentations of Scott Emmons, head of the digital innovation lab at Neiman Marcus; and…

Why Neiman Marcus is Investing in AR/VR, Personalization Technology
October 18, 2018 at 1:34 pm

Scott Emmons, head of the digital innovation lab at Neiman Marcus, delivered a keynote presentation at Total Retail Tech in September. In this clip from Emmons’ presentation, he discusses the tech trends that the upscale department store is investing in, from augmented and virtual reality (e.g., makeup try-on tool available in-store) to personalization, which he…

QVC, HSN to Combine Business Units, Cut 2,000 Jobs
October 18, 2018 at 12:54 pm

Qurate Retail Group (QRG) announced several initiatives designed to better position its HSN and QVC U.S. businesses for long-term growth. Most important is the formation of an integrated business unit called QXH, which Qurate said will ensure an aligned approach to the U.S. market. As part of the transformation, Qurate will eliminate 350 positions by the…

David vs. Goliath: How SMBs Can Create a Competitive Edge With Customer Experience
October 12, 2018 at 8:58 am

It can be hard being a small business today. How does one compete with industry powerhouses that offer millions of SKUs and free two-day shipping? Amazon Prime Now, for example, has over 940,000 products available across 32 U.S. cities, and Target has 39 distribution centers in the U.S. alone. The human and capital resources needed…

Is it AI vs. The Marketing Department?
October 11, 2018 at 11:17 am

Retail marketers have spent the last decade looking to personalization as the primary strategy for bringing shoppers back through their doors, both physical and virtual. With more than 3,000 stores already shutting down this year, it’s never been a bigger priority to understand the customer and what's going to get them to make a purchase.…

Retail Game Changers’ 2019 Industry Forecasts
October 9, 2018 at 10:29 am

The answers featured below come from Total Retail's fourth annual Game Changers issue, sponsored by Emarsys. The goal of this issue is to highlight the entrepreneurs and startup businesses that are disrupting the traditional retail industry, whether it be it through digital innovation, unique product, enhancements to the supply chain, or a multitude of other ways. We…

The Science of Retail: Applying Machine Learning to Drive Revenue
October 9, 2018 at 9:28 am

To effectively transform a retail enterprise from data rich to data-led, retailers must make their data actionable. They must turn a data swamp into a smoothly running data stream. This requires clear goal setting, data normalization and seamless bidirectional communications between core systems across the enterprise. Once these basic requirements are met, retailers can effectively…