No retailer wants to read complaints about their store on social media platforms such as Yelp or Facebook. And in segments with thin margins, such as grocery stores, a lousy customer experience can be particularly damaging. To improve the customer experience, retailers are increasingly implementing autonomous systems that can continuously monitor stock levels, cleanliness and…

Technology is revolutionizing retail shopping. Stores and online retailers are using sophisticated new tools to improve the efficiency and productivity of their operations while delivering a better customer experience to maximize sales and loyalty. The latest of these tools were on display last week at NRF 2019: Retail’s Big Show. Innovation was a topic on…

Retailers are practically swimming in data. No matter whether a retailer is all-online or runs a brick-and-mortar store — or whether it’s a tech leader or laggard — virtually everyone handles a wide variety of data: inventory information, customer payment data, loyalty programs that incorporate buying histories, employee payroll data and countless other sources of…

In a busy mall, someone drops a bag and walks away. How long will it be before security staff notice? And when they do, how long will it take police to identify the person who dropped the bag if it turns out to contain something dangerous, such as a bomb? With a video surveillance system,…

Every year on Black Friday (the post-Thanksgiving shopping day that ushers in the Christmas buying season), millions of people wake up at 3 a.m. and drive to malls and big-box stores. For hours, they stand outside in the dark and the cold, hoping to score incredible deals. But they’re not really there to save money….

Just how solid are brick-and-mortar stores? For every brand that closes a store, two others open a new one, according to an August 2018 IHL Group study. And certain segments — such as food and grocery, drugstores, convenience stores, and superstores and warehouses — see almost four openings for every closure. Increasingly, what separates the…