Retailer and consumer goods companies today live under constant pressure. Keeping up with the surge in e-commerce and multi-channel shopping, threading the needle of global supply chains,1 reimagining in-store experiences, and managing data volumes and privacy concerns just to name a few. Unfortunately, retailers of all sizes are too often caught flat-footed, and the lasting…Read more
The objective of frictionless shopping, frictionless checkout, and autonomous stores is to improve the customer experience and increase convenience. Any of us can put ourselves in the shoes of a shopper and think about how nice it would be to never have to wait in line to give someone our money. I get that. However,…Read more
While most everyone politely accepted the role the industry webinar played these past 24 months, last month Shoptalk gathered nearly 10,000 retail luminaries live and in-person in Las Vegas. The event was held from March 27 to March 30, 2022, at Mandalay Bay for the industry’s biggest reunion yet. Shoptalk 2022, my first in-person event…Read more
This is a transformative time in retail. In talking to industry leaders, clear trends emerge, including the growing importance of unlocking consumer insights balanced with privacy, the need for tighter omnichannel experience, the challenge of mitigating supply chain disruptions, and not compromising on sustainability. Ultimately, much of this results in increased consumer and associate expectations…Read more
It’s that time of the year again. Not to start a gym membership or return gifts…it’s that time of year where retailers reflect on holidays past and question if there was room to do more for their customers: faster delivery, seamless returns, relevant recommendations, efficient customer service without the pain of waiting and listening to…Read more
If the past two years have taught us anything, it’s that it will take all of us working together to ensure the future of retail is meeting today’s consumer needs. The world of retail has been forever shaped by new behaviors, and many are here to stay. Business-as-usual will no longer meet these expectations. With…Read more
In every industry around the world, the past several months have seen organizations adjust to challenges, pursue new business opportunities, and accelerate their digital capabilities in the face of the pandemic that has reshaped our world. Disruption demands the capacity to turn challenge into opportunity. In today’s world, this capacity is built on a strong…Read more
Holiday is the most exciting and important time in retail. It’s where all the preseason inventory planning, the ramp up in hiring of seasonal employees for stores and warehouses, the marketing events, and all the promotions come together to deliver up to 60 percent of the total year’s business for the industry. Over the last…Read more
Like so many of you, I got my first job in a retail store (after babysitting) and like many around the world it was my first introduction to the workplace. Retail always has been and always will be a people business with many employed on retail’s frontline. If ever there was any doubt about the…Read more
We all want to be more sustainable in our day-to-day lives, as consumers and businesses. In fact, I typically consider a new brand or product specifically because of its sustainability practices. And I know I’m not alone. Many of my friends and colleagues share that they like to learn about a brand’s sustainability practices before…Read more
While all of us experienced incredible disruption in the past year, retailers and brands emerged as one of the frontline heroes that kept us fed and alive. From farm to fork, from source to store—goods and products still had to flow. Meanwhile, the expectations increased, and many of these products were now expected to arrive…Read more
With shoppers returning to the stores, retail investments are flowing to omnichannel priorities to digitize stores, support frontline workforce across all channels, connect inventories across platforms, and accelerate fulfillment. Recent research conducted by The Economist shows that retailer respondents saw the pace of, and investment in, digital transformation accelerate during the pandemic.1 Improving the customer…Read more
