Augmented Reality

Within a decade, we will see tremendous shifts to the way in which consumers perceive and interact with the world around us. The imminent upsurge in the extended reality (XR) market is upon us, and what our day-to-day realities will look like by 2030 is up to the collective ability of our imaginations. Yet the…

A little over a year ago, McKinsey announced that COVID-19 crammed 10 years worth of expected growth in e-commerce into just 90 days (a claim I think is open for debate). While the world focused on e-commerce, spectacular growth was actually occurring in another part of the market: Web 3.0. It’s fair to say that…

Have you ever bought a piece of furniture online only to return it not long after it arrives? What you had imagined the item to look like in your living room turned out to not meet your expectations — the colors weren’t right, it didn’t mesh well with the rest of the room, or despite…

Merchants and brands say they’re entering the metaverse by releasing non-fungible token (NFT) projects or buying land in virtual worlds like The Sandbox and Decentraland. The reality is neither brands nor NFT owners are in the metaverse because it hasn’t been built. They're exploring digital worlds, sure, but we can't have multiple "metaverses." And as…

Retail has dramatically changed since the pandemic began. The numbers of consumers visiting real-life shops dropped significantly because of the COVID-19 outbreak. To compensate for the decline in revenue, many companies made the move online. According to experts, by 2023, e-commerce will account for more than $6.5 trillion in sales, representing 22 percent of all global…

A lot has changed when it comes to shopping over the last 18 months. Shopping in-store is still an option, but we know more consumers are turning to online shopping (70 percent of U.S. adults have purchased something online in the last month). Retailers are adapting to the ever-growing e-commerce boom and are investing in…

When thinking of the 2020 holiday season, “normal” is likely the last word that comes to mind for many retailers. Instead, they might think of the last holiday season as “resilient” or “historic.” E -commerce surged then and now, and as another unique holiday season approaches, pair that uniqueness with much improved consumer optimism. Despite…

The coronavirus has brought forward two significant trends in retail. One is to have a more integrated approach to omnichannel retail, and the other is to re-invigorate brick-and-mortar stores. The dramatic changes in how people have shopped over the past 18 months mean that neither trend will end any time soon. Consumers have become familiar with…

The brick-and-mortar bounce-back is upon us. After a year of pandemic-related lockdowns, store closures, and social distancing precautions, foot traffic to leading grocery stores came roaring back in the second quarter, with some even reaching pre-pandemic levels. And with more states and localities easing COVID-19 restrictions in recent weeks, signs of a “return to normalcy”…

When it comes to augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), consumers’ minds oftentimes go to the esoteric musing of Stephen King, sci-fi movies and even video games. However, over the past few years, these technologies have expanded beyond futuristic settings and landed a bit closer to Earth — straight into the e-commerce world. Now,…