Eighty-one percent of companies are reliant on third-party cookies while 85 percent of consumers want brands to use only first-party data, according to a new report. What advice would you give marketers about shifting from reliance on third-party data to first-party data for ad targeting?

A Microsoft survey finds employees looking for a greater say when it comes to new technology investments and initiatives driving digital transformation efforts. Should employees have more say when it comes to digital initiatives?

Walmart is closing three technology hubs and requiring workers to relocate to primary office locations in San Bruno, CA, and at the retailer’s headquarters in Bentonville, AR. Will Walmart’s decision to close three tech hubs, relocate workers and require them to report to the office at least twice a week increase productivity within its IT group?

While promising to help marketers tap first- and second-party data amid new privacy restrictions, data clean rooms remain sparsely used, according to a new study. What do you think of the potential as well as the challenges of using data clean rooms to help marketers transition from third-party cookies for targeting?

Ahold-Delhaize USA, the company behind Food Lion, Fresh Direct, Giant, The Giant Company, Hannaford and Stop & Shop, is among those that has structured its business to make sure that the humans behind the technological tools it uses are in a position to do the most good. What is the proper role of information technology in the strategic planning process for retail organizations today?

A new survey finds retailers increasingly fixated on cost efficiencies around last-mile deliveries amid rising inflation and fuel costs. Where do you see the biggest opportunities to drive down costs in last-mile delivery?

Australian supermarket Woolworths has succeeded in using analytics to inform and redesign a number of processes core to its business in a short amount of time, as outlined in a session at the NRF 2023 Big Show. Do you agree with the claim that most retailers’ core processes need to be fundamentally reimagined using data?

A new university study finds some retailers may be slower to reduce prices to stimulate sales due to “price frictions,” for example, reluctance to move away from prices that end in 99 cents.  Are the pricing frictions cited in the article a major impediment to price optimization?

Microsoft last week was downgraded by UBS as field checks showed slower growth for cloud software providers, including Microsoft’s Azure unit. The downgrade comes as the cloud computing providers reported robust gains in the third quarter but warned of decelerating growth amid macro pressures. Have you seen retailers become more cautious with their cloud investments?

Laid-off workers from Meta, Google, Twitter and other tech hubs are creating a rare opportunity for old-school sectors such as retail to snag skilled talent and accelerate digital plans. Do you see the layoffs in the tech sector creating a near-term or long-term recruiting opportunity for retailers?

If you watched the most recent James Bond movie, you know how it ended and therefore understand some changes are on the horizon for upcoming features. Retail barcodes are on a similar glide path, with big changes ahead for 2027 that, interestingly, are focused on a familiar “Q” as well. What implications exist for retailers and vendors as they prepare for Q codes?

Cisco, SAP and Salesforce have all added a chief trust officer (CTrO) to their c-suite as the digital economy has elevated the importance of trust. Should retailers follow? Do retailers need a chief trust officer or to put a c-level exec in charge of trust?

Technology is everywhere in retail today, but some big retailers say there is not enough, according to a new survey. Do you believe big retailers are still lagging in their implementation of technology?

Nordstrom last week announced that Edmond Mesrobian, its chief technology and information officer since 2018, is stepping down, adding credence to the perception that turnover remains high for information technology executives. What’s the reason for the apparent high turnover rates for CTOs, CIOs and other IT executives?

A new survey of more than 200 information technology and marketing decision-makers from the U.S. and Canada finds agreement that the IT team will become more intimately involved in day-to-day marketing, although each department appears to have different notions about how IT can help. What role should IT play in day-to-day marketing?

Gap and American Eagle Outfitters have joined Amazon, Walmart and Target in peddling logistics services to third-party retailers. But there are concerns over their ability to recruit prospective customers due to data privacy qualms and competitive reasons. What do you think of the opportunities for Gap and American Eagle Outfitters as 3PL providers?

Sephora ran afoul of California’s new data privacy laws, and the beauty retailer is paying the price for it — a settlement of $1.2 million to the state. What impact do you see the Sephora settlement having on how retailers use and sell data, both in California and throughout the U.S.?

More than three decades after the software’s arrival in the late eighties, surveys show CRM (customer relationship management) remains a frustration to many users.  What do you see as the weak points and strong points of CRM systems?

Fewer than four in 10 marketing leaders are extremely or very confident in their data, analytics and insights systems, according to a new study. The report outlines the data capabilities that remain “out of reach” for marketers. What’s causing the lag between data gathering and generating actionable insights?

Linking influencer marketing to revenue is “the golden ticket,” Christina Westley, head of influencer marketing at PepsiCo Content Studio, says in Econsultancy’s “Influencer Marketing Best Practice Guide” study. What are the primary challenges to measuring influencer marketing?

Mall operator Simon Property Group is testing a search tool that lets shoppers see what’s in stock in stores inside the mall. How much appeal will an inventory check tool such as Simon Search offer to mall shoppers?

Recent studies indicate artificial intelligence has not yet delivered the promised time and labor savings benefits to the space and assortment optimization process. Are merchants still relying too much on intuition rather than analytics to guide assortment and space planning?

According to PwC’s 2022 Digital Trends in Supply Chain Survey, 80 percent of operations and information technology leaders surveyed say technology investments have failed to fully deliver expected results.  Which logistics technologies promise to help global supply chains run more efficiently and what’s causing the apparent shortcomings?

Crate & Barrel Holdings last week revealed that Sebastian Brauer, who oversees product design, development and visual merchandising for the home goods chain, will take on additional responsibility. His new title is SVP for product design, development and metaverse. Which c-suite function should guide metaverse strategy for retailers?

A new study finds that as more companies work to digitally transform their supply chains, many do not have enough of the right people on staff to achieve that goal. Are there ways that companies can effectively pursue their digital transformation efforts despite the internal and external challenges?

A new survey of chief data or analytics officers finds that only 26.5 percent believe they have created a data-driven organization.  NewVantage Partners’ “Data and AI Leadership Executive Survey” also found less than half replying that they were competing on data and analytics. What advice do you have for retailers and brands looking to become data-driven organizations?

In February it was announced that Best Buy chose Amazon Web Services as its preferred Cloud technology partner. This would not be so newsworthy If not for the many retailers either shunning AWS or keeping investments in it to a minimum. Do retail executives have the knowledge and expertise to make cloud partner decisions in the best interests of their companies?

Digital transformations, cloud migration and the movement to remote and hybrid workforces have not only elevated but broadened the CIO’s responsibilities to more of an advisory role. Do you see CIOs at retail taking on an advisory role or significantly more responsibilities amid continued digital transformation?

According to a Gartner survey of supply chain leaders, 62 percent are investing in capabilities to capture customer satisfaction data instead of focusing on cost-cutting innovations. What are the obvious and less obvious challenges to leveraging customer data to create a more responsive supply chain?

Automatic identification and data capture technology is about to experience a dramatic expansion, and retailers will want to know how best to take advantage of the change. What impact will the transition to 2D scanning have on retailers and brands?

Amazon is looking to erase a competitive disadvantage it has vs. tech companies when it comes to recruiting and retaining corporate and tech employees by more than doubling its maximum base pay. How likely is it that Amazon’s higher base pay policy will significantly help the company recruit and retain skilled corporate and technical staff?

Recommendation algorithms help connect customers to products, increase visibility to promotions and make shopping more fun. They have also, in some cases, crossed serious ethical lines that have damaged the trust that consumers placed with retailers. What is the role of C-suite executives in the development of ethical recommendation algorithms in retail?

On the heels of Macy’s exuberant earnings report last week, which pushed its stock price up 21 percent overnight to a 230 percent gain for the year to date, a boardroom drama has intensified, spurred by an activist investor. Should Macy’s seriously consider splitting its digital business from its store business?

At least five large companies will introduce “bias bounties” or hacker competitions to identify bias in artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, predicts the just-released “North American Predictions 2022” from Forrester. What are the pros and cons of using bounties to root out bias in artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms?

The lure of high valuation, standalone digital businesses is leading some retailers in a new strategic direction. Are retailers’ sales and profit objectives more likely to be achieved by separating physical and digital operations or by taking a unified approach?

The reason companies often fail to fully benefit from the retention of consultants may be due to oversimplification or underestimation of what it takes to create results, and treating consultants “as transactional vendors.” What advice would you have for retailers and brands to ensure their investments in consultants pay off?

At the height of the COVID pandemic, retail profitability took a back seat to meeting customer demand by whatever means necessary. What will it take for retailers to return to pre-pandemic profit margins?

A new study found corporations with “very effective” CMO-CIO working relationships have sizable advantages in driving data-driven innovation, but that only 23 percent of corporations believe they have attained such collaboration. What should be primary and secondary priorities in driving collaboration between marketing and IT?

Organizations have instituted the position of chief data officer over the last decade to help make some sense out of the flood of big data. Yet less than half of large companies have a CDO. Do you see a strong need for a chief data officer for retailers and brands in addition to the CIO/CTO?

A new survey finds that 23 percent of small retailers do not have a website. Are there legitimate reasons for smaller retailers to go without a website?

Walgreens announced that it completed moving 122 enterprise resource planning (ERP) apps to the cloud in May. Has moving enterprise resource planning to the cloud become a business necessity for retailers and consumer-direct brands?

Retailers and brands that used predictive models were forced to constantly retrain and make adjustments around their machine learning tools as historic data became unreliable during the pandemic. What challenges continue to limit the use of predictive models in supporting forecasting?

Although most of today’s retailers have at least a basic understanding of the need to collect and centralize their local data, there are those that either do not have the resources or have not invested in the technology to make it happen. How critical is having centralized data to the ongoing success of meeting customer demand?

Forty-nine percent of supply chain leaders have accelerated spending in digital technologies to make their operations more responsive and forward-looking during the pandemic, according to a new report.  Which emerging digital technologies cited in the article will be most beneficial in managing future disruption across the supply chain?

Gig delivery workers now have something else to worry about. Shipt shoppers/drivers have fallen victim to criminals who steal their paychecks. How significant a challenge do security issues around third-party contractors pose for retailers and their vendors who use these workers?

The pandemic has accelerated the growth of online sales three to five times depending on the vertical and, even as in-store comes back, no one expects online to regress to pre-pandemic levels. What are the key strategies and/or tactics retailers need to consider to change their operating model and maximize omnichannel profitability?

According to KPMG’s “Thriving in an AI World” study, 53 percent of business leaders in retail said COVID-19 increased their pace of AI adoption, yet 49 percent believe adoption is moving faster than it should in their industry. Has the pandemic spurred the adoption of artificial intelligence technology at too fast a pace?

Half of the marketing, information and marketing tech professionals surveyed in the UK and U.S. state that their organization’s data is not organized for easy consumption, making it the most common technical barrier to deriving meaningful insights. What do you see as the biggest barriers to using customer data effectively and creating a single customer view?

Thirty-seven percent of CEOs identified the CTO/CIO role as among those responsible for the most crucial functions over the next two to three years, the highest-ever spot in the “2021 CEO Study” by IBM. Is the third position behind the CEO about right for the CTO/CIO role when it comes to c-level hierarchy?

The role of the chief digital officer continues to evolve. A new study from Deloitte finds that the role’s success depends on how they perform within four archetypes. Has the role of the chief digital officer significantly changed over the last year?