Technology

U.S. consumers have proven themselves a resilient bunch. In the face of persistently high interest rates and continued inflationary stress, they’ve maintained spending. But as a retailer, you cannot afford to take this for granted. In fact, we’re starting to see the first signs that the American consumer might be about to buckle under the…

Online retail and e-commerce providers are struggling to meet shopper expectations amidst ongoing inflation, higher costs and lingering supply chain woes. A new independent survey that queried nearly 2,000 global shoppers found that 88 percent of U.S. and 79 percent of U.K. shoppers said that online retailers delivered poor experiences at least once in the…

The world of artificial intelligence (AI) is full of unexpected developments that often defy our initial intuition. The interesting part of what may transpire over the coming years are the trends that are counterintuitive. Rather than me writing these by myself, I decided to co-author the top counterintuitive trends in AI with ChatGPT. Each illustrates…

Shoptalk always brings the best and brightest minds of the industry together for four days packed with insights, networking opportunities, trend predictions and so much more. This year, the spring event in Las Vegas was no exception. But like many other major industry events, Shoptalk can feel like you’re sprinting a marathon — there's so…

Last year was rocky in tech. However, despite a slowdown in the industry, investments in digital transformation are growing — the global market is expected to reach $6.8 trillion by 2032. Forward-thinking organizations are looking to MACH-based (microservices, API-first, cloud-native, and headless) and composable architectures to gain complete control over their digital commerce ecosystems. According…

The psychological connection between sound and human recall has long been scientifically established, with certain sounds having the power to transport us back to a moment in time, jog a memory, or even a feeling. The tune of an ice cream truck in the distance, for instance, conjures up the warm memories of childhood summers.…

Expectations for easy, seamless experiences — driven in part by the high bar set by Netflix, Spotify, and TikTok — have spilled over into other facets of consumers’ lives, including shopping. These global brands, and many B2C and B2B commerce brands, employ artificial intelligence to drive their customer experiences. However, AI isn’t a single science.…

It feels almost quaint to discuss the “digital transformation” of the retail industry. Ten years ago, that mostly meant “have a website” and “digitize inventory.” Now these tools are table stakes, and the true digital transformation is the rapid expansion and harnessing of emerging technologies in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), augmented reality (AR),…

In today’s dynamic world of retail, the spotlight remains on artificial intelligence (AI) — and for good reason. AI is undoubtedly transformative, reshaping the future of retail. In addition to AI, other technologies are also making significant strides. Radio-frequency identification (RFID), replacing barcodes, revolutionizes supply chain and inventory management. Video analytics leverages computer vision to…

Generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) is spurring organizations across different sectors to fundamentally reimagine their approach to digital transformation. Nowhere is its disruptive potential more evident than in retail, where Gen AI’s ever-increasing capabilities are powering a new age of customer-centric innovation. Retailers are exploring use cases across a wide range of functions, from new…