Technology

Why a Wait-and-See Approach to Technology Won't Work in Today’s Retail Environment
July 16, 2019 at 1:14 pm

Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), robotics, blockchain … the retail technology possibilities can become overwhelming when determining where to focus your resources and energy. The tendency may be to implement nothing and adopt a wait-and-see approach to determine what shakes out as the single, best way to…

The Journey Towards In-Store Digital Transformation
July 11, 2019 at 9:13 am

There has been a significant shift in what consumers expect from their in-store experiences. Retailers are working harder than ever to deliver a seamless shopping journey for their customers to cater to this change and come out as a winner in a competitive landscape. Only those that transform their stores for innovation will continue to…

How Retailers Can Compete With Walmart’s Tech-Driven CX
July 3, 2019 at 10:33 am

Expectations of retailers’ customer experience (CX) are higher than ever. Consider, 75 percent of consumers say they would stop shopping with a brand following a bad experience. Walmart is long considered an innovator regarding in-store CX, and its latest activations include everything from Pickup Towers and autonomous floor cleaning robots to the launch of the DotCom…

How Technology Has Radically Transformed Retail
July 1, 2019 at 11:04 am

Retail no longer solely means walking into a store or going to a website when searching for something to buy. The “if” factor of finding desired products is now “when” and “how,” and the possibilities for purchase are endless. Today, retail is about the experience — finding the best price, shopping in your preferred mediums, accessing…

Solving Choice Paralysis Through Conversational Marketing
June 25, 2019 at 11:53 am

Regardless of industry, consumers today are faced with a tremendous number choices when shopping — more commonly becoming known as choice overload. Choice overload is what happens when we're faced with more possibilities than we can clearly or easily comprehend, clouding purchase judgement and often leading to overall frustration. When consumers find they're running into too…

Machine Learning is Important, But So is an Intelligent, Collaborative Team
June 20, 2019 at 12:20 pm

Traditionally, stocking inventory has required many systems and spreadsheets in order to place goods in stores and fulfillment centers. These outdated, manual processes are standing in the way of real progress. So how can retailers fix this? Adopting advanced technology is important, but retailers must first look to good business processes before they race to…

Why Integration is Critical to Your Omnichannel Strategy
June 20, 2019 at 11:43 am

Until a few years ago, fine-jewelry maker Miansai sold most of its accessories wholesale to high-end retail department stores. As with many other brands and retailers, Miansai witnessed firsthand the decline of brick-and-mortar stores, and how they can’t compete with the convenience and variety of online shopping. To survive this brave new world, Miansai had…

Glitch Preventing Target Customers From Making Purchases Has Been Fixed
June 17, 2019 at 1:38 pm

Target said a systemwide outage that prevented customers from making purchases at its stores on Saturday has been fixed. The two-hour outage, which affected its cash registers, was caused by an internal technology problem, the retail chain said, without giving further details. “After an initial but thorough review, we can confirm that this was not…

Don’t Forget the Power of Direct Mail
June 14, 2019 at 10:25 am

With the prominence of the internet and social media in our daily lives, many companies think direct mail’s importance has dwindled over the years. However, an increasing number of marketers are actually adding mail back into their marketing toolbox once again. According to the Data & Marketing Association, customer response rates have increased year-over-year by…