Technology
March 21, 2019 at 11:35 am
Brands across industries are eager to wow customers with new technology — and rightly so. In the age of heightened convenience, more personalized experiences and innovative shopping options like Amazon Alexa, consumers won’t tolerate brands that don’t embrace the future. However, that doesn’t mean brands should rely on tech to replace a good customer experience. Usabilla's recent…
March 21, 2019 at 11:05 am
Kum & Go is a 24/7 convenience store chain that operates 400-plus locations in the Midwest. Like many convenience store businesses that are open around the clock, Kum & Go was challenged with staffing issues. In particular, store general managers were being forced to pick up uncovered shifts when employees called out and didn't have…
March 20, 2019 at 12:34 pm
When you’re interacting with millions of email subscribers, the only way to personalize content for each person on your list is with automation. But within many organizations, the idea of giving a machine control over email content isn’t exactly an easy sell — especially for brands that have spent decades refining their voice and visuals.…
March 18, 2019 at 12:35 pm
Amazon.com recently tested a feature in its mobile app that showed products on other sellers’ product pages for lower-priced items, often from Amazon's own private labels, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. For example, if someone was searching for AAA batteries on Amazon and got a sponsored link for Energizer, they would click on the…
March 14, 2019 at 12:27 pm
Walmart is making its own tablet in a move that would pit it against other tech giants and retailers such as Apple and Amazon.com. The world’s largest retailer plans to introduce an inexpensive, kid-friendly tablet computer under its ONN store brand, part of a broader redesign of its electronics department, according to a report on Bloomberg.com. Walmart’s ONN…
March 13, 2019 at 12:14 pm
As retail companies advance new strategies to reach customers, they must also advance cybersecurity. Complying with the PCI Data Security Standard alone is not enough. Compliance didn't prevent major retailers from suffering breaches in 2018. Bypassing PCI-mandated controls, attackers exploited weaknesses in point-of-sale systems, created “backdoor” access through third-party partners, used stolen credentials to hack…
March 13, 2019 at 11:40 am
The popularity of mobile applications is growing at a tremendous rate, which can clearly be seen in the transformation happening around us — the way we work, interact or spend time owing to the various technological advancements. Enterprise mobility is now considered to be at the forefront for all businesses, regardless of their model, scalability…
March 12, 2019 at 10:43 am
In an Amazon.com-dominated landscape, a retailer’s success hinges on the quality of its e-commerce experience and the degree of personalization it provides. Effective content management is the key to that personalization — and artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to evolve it in a big way. The integration of AI into content management systems (CMS) is…
March 7, 2019 at 1:18 pm
While at Shoptalk 2019 in Las Vegas this week, Total Retail's Joe Keenan interviewed Brendan Witcher, vice president and principal analyst of digital business strategy at Forrester Research. In the wide-ranging interview, Witcher offered his thoughts on the vibe from attendees at the show, the state of brick-and-mortar retail, the retail technologies he's bullish on for…
March 5, 2019 at 4:45 pm
In a keynote presentation yesterday at Shoptalk in Las Vegas, Helena Foulkes, CEO, Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), parent of Hudson's Bay, Lord & Taylor, and Saks Fifth Avenue, discussed how the retail organization planned to evolve from within to create radical change to the customer experience (CX) for all of its brands. Foulkes outlined four…
