Companies are working to help restaurants and individuals impacted by the coronavirus. Kroger and the Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Foundation announced a commitment to deploy hunger relief resources, while Grubhub temporarily halted the collection of commission payments from impacted independent restaurants up to a set amount. And some small...
The start of U.S. economic recovery is likely approximately six weeks away, if China’s experience with the coronavirus provides lessons learned. While China’s economy is grappling to regain its footing, there is also evidence that its severe measures to contain the virus were successful. And in consumer spending,...
Physical retail is evolving to meet the needs of shoppers who expect the same convenience and speed of mobile and online environments. Large shares of Gen Z and millennial consumers, for their part, regularly travel to brick-and-mortar stores, even though they see themselves as digital shoppers. And in...
The United States Postal Service (USPS) is the biggest retailer in the country in terms of sheer size and locations, and a new Government Accountability Office (GAO)-commissioned report is examining the possibility of the post office growing its retail offerings. While the GAO is not talking about offering sandwiches, coffee or...
Businesses that rely on the old-school, brick-and-mortar business model are turning away from eCommerce. Burlington, in one case, announced on its last earnings call that it will stop selling its off-priced goods online and plans to expand its footprint. And Ross Stores, which doesn’t sell online, is looking to...
The ride into 2020 has been bumpy to say the least, and beset with challenges. Some were known issues. Payments security, solving the byzantine world of healthcare payments, expanding the reach and efficacy of digital authentication – none of these are new news, so much as they are ongoing challenges...
There is no shortage of questions that seem basic, but are harder to answer than they appear on first glance. What counts as a bank? When will instant payments be truly accessible, as opposed to only partially so? How can we track illegal transactions between...
The COVID-19 virus is putting a renewed focus on technology and the supply chain. One retailer, for instance, recommitted to scaling robotics solutions to replenish inventory to hundreds of locations by this summer. And in eCommerce, websites are allowing consumers to pay increments of an item’s price...
Panera Bread’s $8.99-per-month “all the coffee you can drink” offering debuted this week, which is spurring a new look at in-store loyalty programs. The move comes as research shows that in-store customers tend to spend noticeably more than online impulse buyers, irrespective of their online brand or retailer loyalty. And iMoving takes...
