The opening months of 2026 have seen several well-known retailers, including Eddie Bauer, Macy’s, and Saks Fifth Avenue, announce plans to close portions of their brick-and-mortar portfolios. While headlines may frame these moves as a shift toward online-first operations, the reality is far more strategic (and optimistic) in many cases. Retailers are thoughtfully reshaping their…

Well before the war with Iran began, retailers were facing an impossible tangle of challenges, from supply chain volatility to upticks in theft to stubbornly high rates of staff turnover. Recent geopolitical tensions have merely added insult to injury, in particular by gravely exacerbating what was already a growing liability in the sector: namely, the…

Amazon.com has begun offering all businesses access to its logistics network, regardless of whether the business sells on the e-commerce giant's marketplace. In a press release, Amazon announced that it was opening its freight, distribution, fulfillment and parcel shipping capabilities to all businesses across all industries, including retail, healthcare and manufacturing. "We’re confident we can…

As you read this, business leaders across virtually every industry are dealing with the exact same problem: a deluge of sales calls, cold emails, and sketchy LinkedIn pitches from artificial intelligence vendors vying for even a sliver of your attention. For executives in the retail space it can feel like every platform, tool, and quirky…

Retail leaders have spent the better part of three years running artificial intelligence experiments. Smart shelf analytics here. A dynamic pricing engine there. A conversational bot standing in for customer service agents on the overnight shift. The results have been encouraging, sometimes even impressive, and the industry has responded with enthusiasm. But enthusiasm, unchecked by…