It’s been a few years since the Amazon Echo first burst onto the scene, and it can still seem like the device is from another age of retail technology sometimes. The seamless experience of voice-activated commerce was unfathomable half a decade ago, but now competitors...
Most struggling department stores know that they need a strong eCommerce arm to make up for their (hopefully temporary) in-store deficiencies. However, some unlucky few are starting to realize that they don’t have the funds necessary to get back on their digital feet, and one...
When it comes to omnichannel execution, the rich keep getting richer. The Q2 2016 OmniReadi Index™ takes a closer look at “omnichannel readiness” — “omnireadi” for short — and, as it turns out, there’s an enormous gap between the merchants who are the most and...
Back in 2008, Oracle founder and CTO Larry Ellison had one of history’s less insightful comments on the future of cloud computing, something he likened at the time to a fad. A fad he mostly didn’t really get. “The computer industry is the only industry...
TV spinoffs have plenty of blemishes on their record, with few surviving past their often mercifully short first seasons. The same story also plays out in the retail sphere: When a merchant decides to spin off one of its subsidiaries, they better be sure it...
Since Amazon made on-demand delivery the feature of choice for any retailer capable of delivering it, plenty of merchants who had no business doing so had no choice but to stomach the costs and ship like they’ve never shipped before. An entire cottage industry of turnkey...
Starbucks has found a new solution to every Outlook user’s coffee needs. In partnership with Microsoft, the company has added new functionality to Office 365’s Outlook app that allows coffee-chugging U.S. users to set up meetings at nearby Starbucks stores. The new tool called “Meet at...
When it comes to omnichannel execution, the rich keep getting richer. The Q2 2016 OmniReadi Index™ takes a closer look at “omnichannel readiness” — “omnireadi” for short — and, as it turns out, there’s an enormous gap between the merchants who are the most and...
The connected car is a certain part of the future — if it isn’t one already. What still seems up in the air are self-driving cars. Will they have a place on the roads alongside human drivers? And if so, will consumers really buy their...
