Robots

In the last installment of this 10-part series, I focus on emerging technologies and trends that will shape fulfillment in the coming months and years. These innovations enable merchants to fulfill orders faster while reducing costs, especially in the last mile and warehouse operations. Many large e-commerce merchants have started to adopt these technologies, and…

Automation is helping merchants take a large cut of the $4.2 trillion pie that e-commerce represents today. Facebook has already integrated automation in some way or another to its marketplace through features like automated seller responses, and robotic process automation (RPA) systems are making platforms like Amazon.com and Shopify capable of reading and responding to…

As e-commerce evolves, customer expectations to get what they want — when, where, and how they want it — will only continue to intensify and further challenge brands in 2020 and beyond. The times when search and price were the only criteria for purchasing decisions are gone, and retailers today need airtight e-commerce strategies that…

In today’s digital world, data is worth its proverbial weight in gold. However, it’s not enough for retailers to just collect data to win the retail wars; they need to have a strategy to distill and apply insights from the data. For example, inventory data is particularly ripe for strategic use. By synthesizing information about…

Walmart has hired Scott Eckert to run its investment arm and startup incubator, Store No. 8, according to an internal memo from Marc Lore, the retailer's head of e-commerce on Monday, and obtained by Reuters. Eckert is a former executive of Bain Capital Ventures, where he evaluated potential new investments and advised CEOs about existing…

The retail industry is at a critical inflection point. The biggest brick-and-mortar stores are facing significant external pressures, and today’s customers have come to expect a seamless omnichannel shopping experience, every time. To better understand how retailers are faring in this uncharted retail era, Bossa Nova partnered with Wakefield Research to survey corporate retail professionals…

In episode 184 of Total Retail Talks, Executive Editor Joe Keenan interviews Dave Steck, vice president of IT — infrastructure and application development at Schnucks Markets, a Missouri-based supermarket chain. Listen in as Steck discusses the grocer's partnership with Simbe Robotics and its use of autonomous shelf-scanning robot, Tally, to improve in-store operations and inventory management.

Walmart is testing the use of storage and retrieval robotics, called Alphabot, to increase the speed of online grocery order pickup, according to a company blog post. The technology, which was developed in collaboration with retail automation company Alert Innovation, is being installed in a section of a Salem, N.H. supercenter, which will also be a dedicated…

Kroger announced a deal this week with British online grocer Ocado to help improve its grocery delivery services through the construction of robotically operated warehouses. A report by Reuters states the deal is Ocado's first in the United States and company’s fourth major agreement with retailers in six months. Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen called the…

Technology’s presence in popular culture is inescapable — so much so that the debate over whether “retail is dying” and “technology is taking over” has caused fluctuating business models in real estate, automotive and large corporations. SET Creative, an award-winning experience agency, suggests a different perspective in that we’ve underestimated the need for brick-and-mortar, human experiences for retail’s future growth. In its new whitepaper, Human After All, technology is painted as a powerful resource for commerce, but one that doesn’t entertain the essential quality that humans bring to the retail table: an understanding of consumer behavior through quality customer interaction. A marriage of physical and digital is what will save classic retail from extinction.