Artificial Intelligence

Industry veteran Jill Standish, senior managing director of retailer for Accenture Consulting, recently spoke with Chain Store Age about what she sees as some of the biggest IT-related trends facing the industry. Here is her take on the trends:

Effectively managing an end-to-end supply chain is a tricky proposition for most retailers.

No matter where a retailer is located or what products they sell, their supply chain likely extends across the globe, exposing them to a wide variety of potential issues. In a new report, “Is Your Luck Running Out? Managing Supply Risk in Uncertain Times,” A.T. Kearney identifies 12 specific risk trends, most negative but some with mixed or even positive impact that will affect the supply chain through 2025.

The warehouse is shifting from a building where you keep stuff to an intelligent hub that supports order management, customer service and general productivity.

1-800-Flowers.com is partnering with Amazon.com to make the digital ordering process even easier.

The specialty floral gift retailer will allow customers to place orders using the Amazon Alexa voice-activated artificial intelligence platform via the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot and Tap smart home devices and Fire TV streaming media player. 1-800-Flowers shoppers will be able to give Alexa basic ordering instructions, and the retailer will then process the order and arrange delivery.

Barneys New York is employing technology to give shoppers at its new flagship in downtown Manhattan flagship even more personalized attention — and an experience that combines the best of physical and digital retail.

Over the past decade or so, we’ve watched as consumers have increasingly turned to e-commerce to make their purchases, and more segments of the retail sector — from apparel to grocery — have set up shop online to meet demand.

Whether you're in-store or online, the benefits of a personalized customer experience are undeniable. We want salespeople who can help us find exactly what we're looking for as quickly as possible; we return to lunch spots where all we have to ask for is "the usual." For e-tailers, personalization has traditionally relied upon recommendation engines, algorithms that look to match prior consumer clicks and purchases with like-minded cohorts. And personalization is indeed effective for those e-commerce sites.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the hottest topics in retail technology. While there has been a lot of talk about IoT’s status as a game-changer for retail, there has been less discussion on exactly how it will drive industry transformation.

Here are three specific ways IoT will bring about a new era in retail operations.

Automatic shopping