Vaccine won't propel consumers back to retail stores, claims survey

January 27, 2021

As millions of consumers are being vaccinated to combat the COVID-19 virus it's not likely too many will be increasing trips to retail stores.

2020: The year a pandemic changed the payments ecosystem

by Bethany Ewing

Bethany Ewing, principal, customer marketing, mobile payments lead, Deloitte Digital, and Peter Pearce, senior manager of financial services strategy at…

Godiva shuttering North America stores by April

January 26, 2021

Godiva will close all its 128 North America locations by the end of March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2 must-haves for building a robust customer experience in 2021

by John Kavulich — Vice President, IoT Solution Sales, Acuity Brands

John Kavulich, VP, IoT Solution Sales, Acuity Brands Lighting, Inc., shares why the new year is when retailers should reflect on the 2020 learnings and that…

Pandemic propels big spike in customer service calls

January 25, 2021

The increased use of online shopping led to a huge spike, 69%, in customer service call volumes during 2020 as COVID-19 spread throughout the world, according…

TTEC, Schwan’s launch customer engagement center

January 22, 2021

TTEC Holdings Inc., a customer experience solution provider, has partnered with Schwan's Home Delivery to meet an increasing number of customer requests for…

3 ways retailers must pivot in 2021

by Anthony Ng Monica

Anthony Ng Monica, CEO of Swogo, says the good news for retailers heading into the new year is that there are strategies to help the accelerated digital…

Pandemic didn't deter holiday sales

January 19, 2021

The retail holiday sales in late 2020 hit an unexpected high point given a 8.3% spike compared to the previous year, according to the National Retail…

A glimpse into 2021 retail: The times they (will continue) a-changin'

As the wild and bumpy ride known as 2020 comes to a close, David Wilkinson, president and general manager, NCR Retail, takes a look at some of those changes…

Seize the new year with 6 lessons from the COVID-19 holiday rush

Mike Chou, director of business development at Harbor Retail, shares six lessons retailers can learn from the COVID-19 impact on the 2020 holiday sales season.

Men, women not so different when it comes to shopping behavior

January 12, 2021

Over two-thirds of men and two-thirds of women do the majority of their shopping online and more than two-thirds of men and women are using their smartphone…

Ensuring customer satisfaction through AI

by Pat Shea — Editor, NetworldMedia

Artificial intelligence is getting lots of interest since the coronavirus pandemic hit. President and CEO of Rekor, Robert Berman, shares insight on a…

Inspiration, joy top consumer motivators

January 5, 2021

When it comes to retail engagement and response to marketing, consumers are all about inspiration, joy, hope and love.

Loyalty success metrics to start the year on

by Christine Sullivan

Christine Sullivan, director, product development for SessionM, a Mastercard company, explains why brands need to determine the best ways to understand and…

Making curbside a critical component of the customer experience

by Ram Venketaraman

Ram Venkataraman , chief product and technology officer at Kibo, says buy online-pickup curbside should not be viewed as a niche trend to sustain retail during…

Data: Omnichannel consumption up 50% during 2020

December 29, 2020

Omnichannel consumption in the U.S. spiked 50% during 2020 with nearly half of all consumer goods purchases completed via e-commerce, according to Nielsen…

Survey: Consumers hungry for messaging, conversational AI

December 28, 2020

A good majority, 85%, of worldwide consumers are on board with messaging brands, up from 65% last year, and 75% would spend more with brands that offer…

Winter is here: How retailers can tap digital tools to boost the customer experience

by Kevin Grauman — CEO, QLess, Inc

Kevin Grauma, CEO of QLess, explains how technology is helping ease the retail que in times of social distancing amid COVID-19. But writes that retailers need…

How retailers can remain competitive during the pandemic

by Myles Kleeger

Myles Kleeger, president and chief customer officer, Braze, believes the retail winners of the holiday season, and of the ongoing pandemic, are those using…

Lounge Underwear teams with Emarsys to gain customer insight

December 22, 2020

The women's underwear brand Lounge Underwear is partnering with omnichannel customer engagement provider Emarsys in an effort to get a deeper understanding of…