Walmart building, remodeling and tapping interactive displays

April 19, 2018

Walmart is building 20 new stores and remodeling hundreds of existing locations, mostly in Florida and Texas, with new designs on everything from aisle layout…

Amazon offering in-home gadget service

April 19, 2018

On the heels of announcing a partnership with Best Buy to sell its Fire-enabled televisions, Amazon is reportedly also setting up its own 'Geek Squad…

Amazon partners with Best Buy on Amazon Fire TV strategy

April 19, 2018

Amazon is partnering with Best Buy in an exclusive agreement to sell its Amazon Fire smart televisions sold via Best Buy's Insignia brand and Toshiba.

Are you an innovative customer whisperer?

by Chip Bell — Customer Loyalty Consultant/Author, Chip Bell Group

Chip R. Bell explains why retail success starts with customer intelligence that provokes insight, not just customer information, and includes shifting the…

How major mergers are changing your favorite private brands

by Bryan Pearson — President, LoyaltyOne

Bryan Pearson ponders what will happen to the Whole Foods brand now living under the ever expanding Amazon umbrella.

TGI Fridays focused on personal, genuine customer interaction

April 17, 2018

TGI Fridays is partnering with SessionM, a customer data and engagement platform, to enhance its omnichannel strategy and drive stronger connection with…

Walmart prepping hundreds of high-tech pickup towers

April 17, 2018

In the quest to provide consumers fast and easily product pick up, Walmart plans to expand its 'high-tech' pickup towers at stores. In the past year Walmart…

Personalization, physical-digital integration dominating retail innovation

by Elliot Maras — Editor, Kiosk Marketplace & Vending Times

Recognizing the need for both physical stores and e-commerce, retailers seek solutions — including self-serve kiosks — to deliver more interactive customer…

5 ways AI can do the heavy lifting in the retail customer experience

Katrina Gosek, senior director, digital customer product strategy at Oracle, explains why success in the next era of retail won't come from adding the latest…

Amazon expands Key access nationwide

April 13, 2018

Amazon's Key smart entry technology is now available nationwide and the in-home Key delivery program is available to Prime members in 37 specific cities.

Macy expanding off-price outlet strategy

April 13, 2018

Macy's, in a bid to lure price-conscious consumers, plans to open 100 Backstage location across the nation this year.

Nordstrom launches men's store in Manhattan

April 12, 2018

History is being made this week as Nordstrom's launches its first-ever Manhattan, New York store.

Watch out Amazon Go, China's BingoBox is on the move

by Elliot Maras — Editor, Kiosk Marketplace & Vending Times

BingoBox, an unmanned c-store, already has 300 locations in China, and plans to expand internationally. The project has received significant venture funding.

A new purpose for in-store retail in 2018: customer delight

Justin Jones and Ashley Welch, co-founders of Somersault Innovation, explain the focus of in-store retail and why it's all about creating 'Cathy' moments -…

Boxed debuts membership program

April 11, 2018

Boxed customers wanting lower shipping fees and bigger price breaks are going to have to pay as the e-commerce grocery site is deploying an annual membership…

Walmart mulling PillPack delivery service acquisition, claim reports

April 9, 2018

In yet another move to expand way beyond typical retailing Walmart is reportedly mulling the acquisition of medication delivery player PillPack.

ShopKeep expands payment processing options to include TSYS' ProPay

April 6, 2018

ShopKeep and ProPay, a TSYS company, have announced a new partnership in which ProPay will manage payment processing via its Payment Facilitator service for…

Octopus extends merchant acceptance via NFC-enabled mPOS app

April 6, 2018

Octopus Cards Limited has launched a new feature to enhance the Octopus App for Business, enabling merchants to accept Octopus card payment through their NFC…

Mall of America embracing chatbot to boost retail customer experience

by Judy Mottl — Editor, RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com

The Mall of America's limited chatbot experience led to a more robust deployment this past holiday season and is part of the mall's overall digital technology…

Sears, Kmart, Delta customer data hit in cyber attack on software provider

April 5, 2018

The payment data of Sears, Kmart and Delta Air Lines customers may have been compromised in a cybersecurity attack on a software service provider.