Customer Feedback Accelerated the Launch of Chewy's Virtual Vet Service
January 20, 2021 at 7:25 pm

Online pet supplies retailer Chewy.com revealed customer feedback was a primary reason the company accelerated its plans to launch a virtual vet service, CNBC reported. CEO Sumit Singh explained during an keynote presentation at the NRF Big Show this week that even though the business was years away from rolling out the program, calls to Chewy's…

Is COVID-19 Presenting Businesses With the Ideal Opportunity to Invest in Innovation?
January 20, 2021 at 10:33 am

In-store businesses continue to confront evolving challenges, competing priorities, and a sense of uncertainty when it comes to the sustained impact of COVID-19 on their operations. One of the most pressing questions being faced is whether to invest in solutions that offer customers a more convenient and innovative checkout experience. While forward-thinking in-store businesses already…

How Digital Excellence Became Retail’s Hottest New Look
January 19, 2021 at 3:21 pm

While COVID-19 has brought lots of uncertainty to our world, nothing has been “certain” in the retail world for a very long time, and the current pandemic has undoubtedly disrupted anything resembling “business as usual.” However, whether you run a tiny, web-only startup, are the owner of a single small town brick-and-mortar shop, or the…

Proposition 24: The Impact of California’s New Consumer Privacy Law on Retail Businesses
January 14, 2021 at 4:56 pm

California’s Proposition 24, which expands the state’s consumer privacy law, was passed by voters on Nov. 3, 2020. Starting January 2023, the new law, called the California Consumer Privacy Rights Act (“CCPRA”) will take effect and allow consumers more control over how businesses collect and use their personal information. Today, advancements in technology allow retailers…

Tech Trends for 2021: The Future of Retail
January 14, 2021 at 4:18 pm

While we've entered a new world of commerce, there’s no question that retailers are ready for any challenge that comes their way in the year ahead. When the COVID-19 global pandemic temporarily closed shop doors, retailers became experts in adapting. They quickly implemented digital tools and new ways of selling, all without the luxury of…

Can You Anticipate the Future of Selling?
January 14, 2021 at 3:00 pm

The future of selling requires retailers and brands to anticipate customer and channel demand shifts. The problem is companies admit they're not quite ready. According to a recent Forrester study of footwear and apparel brands and retailers, fewer than one-third of brands believe they're fully prepared to act on demand shifts in their market, and…

Gen Z: What Retailers Can Learn From TikTok
January 12, 2021 at 9:17 pm

Gen Z is fast becoming a key audience for retailers. Contrary to older generations, Gen Z, who are aged 16 to 24, are digital natives and have grown up with the internet as a large part of their world. They're incredibly tech-savvy, and have a spending power of over $140 billion. This would make them…

How AI Can Help Retailers Thrive in 2021 and Beyond
January 12, 2021 at 8:57 pm

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, retailers are poised to bring in a great deal of revenue through their e-commerce platforms. Not only can artificial intelligence (AI) effectively help keep e-commerce stores up-and-running during peak shopping seasons and thereafter, but it can also provide effective sales recommendations and timely automated customer support.  Use AI to Automate…

Simple Ways Operations Can Help Improve Checkout Conversion
January 12, 2021 at 7:40 pm

Lots of design literature has been written to document e-commerce shopping best practices. User experience (UX) and user interface strategies, like checkout flows or microcopy, matter for increasing purchases. The role operations can play with improving conversion and revenue is often ignored because of its multiple levels of difficulty. Unlike a button, whose color can…

What Does COVID-19, ThirdLove, Purple, and hims & hers Have in Common?
January 12, 2021 at 5:16 pm

COVID-19 has hit every industry hard. But if something is certain, it’s that the world as we know it is different. As many as 25,000 stores may close this year as businesses continue to feel the impacts of the coronavirus, according to a new report from Coresight Research. In order to stay relevant and adapt,…