Artificial Intelligence

Ever since the announcement of Amazon Go and its promised checkout-free shopping experience, retailers have been left wondering, “what does Amazon Go mean for the rest of retail?”   

Trends offer new opportunities, responsibilities

The next great thing isn’t a piece of tech, an improved process, a branded message, or a fast-changing business model. It’s all this — at once. The fact is the next great thing is retail itself.

Retail lies at the convergence point of some of the most profound changes any business can experience. More, it plays out in front of customers and the rest of the world in real time. Retail brands that quickly harness new ideas by learning the details that make them work well become the winners.

There’s no denying that Amazon has changed the face of retail, but there are many misconceptions about how the company actually operates. Unfortunately, these fallacies are leading many retail companies into making bad strategic business decisions as they try to duplicate Amazon’s success.

The following is a breakdown of some myths — along with a few takeaways:

Retailers looking for dramatic energy savings at the lowest cost should think radical – and that means using an integrated design process right from the start.

“Radically efficient buildings are, among other things, 75% more energy efficient than typical construction” said Paul Westbrook, president of RE:source consulting, at the SPECS session, “An Improved Road to Energy Savings.”

An office supplies giant is taking steps to tighten up its data security strategies.   Staples named Brett Wahlin as its chief information security officer (CISO), responsible for global enterprise-wide information, product and data security. He will report to chief technology officer Faisal Masud, who leads Staples Digital Solutions, a new organization within the company that combines its traditional IT and digital organizations.  

Amazon’s signature Dash button may be getting some competition from a rival very soon.   A patent filing by Walmart reveals that the retail giant could be developing an Internet of Things-based device that tracks how shoppers use products in their homes and then electronically reorders merchandise.  

The United Kingdom is preparing for Amazon’s newest technology hub — a lab that will focus on innovations from artificial intelligence to machine learning.   The online giant plans to open a new 60,000 sq. ft. development center in Cambridge this fall. The facility will have the capacity to employ more than 400 associates, including machine learning scientists, knowledge engineers, data scientists, mathematical modelers, speech scientists and software engineers.  

Best Buy is extending its reaching into the fast-growing smart home market by teaming up with a company that makes and installs smart devices.      The retailer and Vivint Smart Home announced a partnership, called Best Buy Smart Home powered by Vivint, whereby experts from Vivint will be placed in Best Buy stores to give shoppers advice about smart home devices and installation. The program will start rolling out this summer.