Today on Total Retail

Walmart is raising its return shipping rates for seller-fulfilled orders, citing "changing market conditions," according to an update posted this month on the Walmart Marketplace website. While the retailer doesn't make its return shipping rates public, the company told Talk Business it’s the first rate increase in two years. Walmart marketplace allows third-party sellers to…

In this episode of Total Retail Tech Insights, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Shannon Flanagan, vice president and general manager of retail and consumer goods at Talkdesk, a global cloud contact center leader for enterprises of all sizes. Listen in as Flanagan discusses her experience in the industry (0:45), her career journey to Talkdesk and the…

Dynamic pricing has long been a part of the rideshare experience, sparking unhappy social media posts when “surge pricing” kicks in after a night out on the town or a major event. But while the immediate leap from fluctuating fares for a ride home to varying prices for your lunch might seem a stretch, it's…

Small to midsized businesses (SMBs) have been caught between a rock and a hard place by their SaaS platforms. Everyone knows interest rates have been rising and inflation has also lifted prices. However, the seemingly endless and automatic "price changes" announced by billion-dollar software companies like Shopify are endangering the very existence of SMBs. Shopify…

In the ever-evolving landscape of marketing, e-commerce, operations, and management, executives are constantly on the lookout for strategies that can enhance efficiency and accelerate the sales cycle. In order to stand out in a competitive marketplace, adopting advanced tactics becomes not just advantageous but essential. Here, we explore innovative approaches that can significantly speed up…

Every year, the U.S. goes through enough cardboard boxes for shipping to pave a one-mile-wide road from New York City to Los Angeles three times, or build a mile-high cardboard wall around the entire continental U.S. Getting rid of overreliance on Amazon.com's signature brown box is a key goal of the retail giant and its…

Businesses are constantly having to navigate unexpected issues with their shipping processes and the real consequences that come to their bottom line. From upstream disruptions such as havoc in international waters that clog ports and upend access to goods, to downstream disruptions like inclement weather that mess with on-time-delivery (OTD) rates, the supply chain as…

Artificial intelligence integration is coming of age in the retail industry. Eighty percent of retailers are expected to adopt AI within the next three years, and according to a recent IDC Europe study, 40 percent of retailers are already in the experimentation phase with generative AI. While generative AI (think AI assistants and ChatGPT) is…

Recent news coming out of the supply chain industry shows how major players are continuing to make moves when it comes to their fulfillment and distribution processes, particularly around implementing more automation. While these advancements are great for trimming store-to-home delivery costs, industry professionals are asking themselves what this means for the future of the…

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…