The former chief strategy officer at Snapchat and his wife, formerly at Quidsi, have launched Verishop, a new online platform designed to bring “the joy back to shopping.” Will Verishop’s approach to brand curation and customer service set it apart from other online competitors?
Tire shoppers at Sam’s Club could find faster, more accurate recommendations from store staff thanks to a new app they’ll have on their tablets. How important is it for retailers to use associate-facing technology to help speed the sales process along?
Six years after getting rid of them, Costco is again testing self-service checkouts to help combat long waits at manned registers. Do you see more pros or cons in Costco’s re-introduction of self-scan checkouts?
On Saturday, “an internal technology issue” caused long lines at Target stores and customers wasted no time going on social media to post their unhappiness. Will the checkout outages at Target over the weekend have any lasting effects on how customers view the retailer?
Shake Shack’s founder and acclaimed restaurateur said his sustainability choices have largely been done for “intuitive” rather than “intentional” reasons. What lessons might retailers and brands learn from Danny Meyer’s approach to sustainability and transparency?
Looking to become America’s most loved beauty destination, Walgreens has launched health and beauty offerings to better serve oncology patients from the inside out. What role does empathy, if any, play in retail sales and customer service?
Amazon.com last week introduced StyleSnap, a feature that makes fashion recommendations based on user-submitted photos. What do you think of StyleSnap and the potential of artificial intelligence to support fashion discovery?
Walmart is folding Jet.com’s teams — analytics, marketing, product, retail, technology, et al — into its corporate web organization. What do you see as Jet.com’s role within Walmart?
Target wants to give its customers more financial flexibility when it comes to receiving same-day delivery of items purchased online. How do you assess Target’s overall digital sales progress compared with competitors such as Amazon.com and Walmart?
At last week’s Future Stores Seattle conference, attendees heard quite a lot from digitally-native retailers about making the journey offline through experiential showrooms. Are showrooms only viable for made-to-order retailers?
