E-Commerce

I sit in a lot of usability sessions for AudioEye, a digital accessibility platform. One has stuck with me. A woman who is blind was checking out on a retail site, navigating with a screen reader. Screen readers turn a page's underlying code into speech: a properly labeled button announces as "Place Order, button"; an…

Most retail fulfillment technology investments don't fail at go-live. They fail months earlier, in a planning meeting where a vendor hands over a 14-week implementation timeline and nobody — not merchandising, not store operations, not the warehouse team — pushes back on the assumptions underlying it. By the time the project is six months in…

e.l.f. Beauty is planning to walk back some of the tariff-fueled price increases it implemented less than a year ago after the retailer has seen a slide in demand that’s ramped up in recent months as consumers contend with higher gas prices. The beauty brand tested a $4 price reduction on its $18 Halo Glow…

When OpenAI brought in advertising leadership in late March, it signaled that monetization was imminent. Days later, ChatGPT confirmed the rollout of ads, marking a rapid shift from experimentation to execution. At the same time, artificial intelligence platforms are moving earlier in the customer journey. Consumers now use large language models (LLMs) to research products…

It’s an alarming time for retailers. According to Deloitte, only 3 percent feel well prepared to address artificial intelligence risks, underscoring a need to rethink cybersecurity strategies. As AI reshapes today’s threat landscape, brands must evaluate how attackers are targeting their systems, why traditional defenses are failing, and what practical steps can help reduce risk.…

Retailers spend years and millions building loyalty programs, reward ecosystems and promotional engines. But what happens when that value sits unused — forgotten in an app, buried in an inbox, expired before it was ever spent? The problem isn't consumer apathy. It's a system that was never designed for how people actually manage their money.…

For today’s retailers, customer experience (CX) defines a business. Every delay, outage or failed transaction directly impacts revenue, customer loyalty and brand perception. To keep pace, retailers are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence and automation to power real-time personalization, streamline operations, and support always-on digital and in-store experiences. However, the same technologies that enable speed…

As consumers increasingly turn to artificial intelligence for shopping guidance, many people assumed that AI chatbots could more or less totally replace human decision-making. However, the recent news that OpenAI abandoned ChatGPT’s Instant Checkout feature is eye opening: shoppers increasingly use chatbots for product discovery and comparison but they still want to make the actual…

Brand used to guide choice. Increasingly, price is becoming the dominant decision influencer. Zappi’s 2026 CPG Mega-Trends report shows brand-name-only buying has dropped from 21 percent to just 10 percent in less than a year. At the same time, nearly one-third of shoppers (32 percent) say they will buy the cheapest option that meets their…

A small business’s greatest competitive edge is its personal touch. Its connection with customers and unique brand story is one that big-box retailers can’t replicate. However, small business owners are stretched thin, trying to manage everything from product to marketing. That’s why artificial intelligence has been a life saver. It’s the answer to getting more…