Insights

“Now Trending” is a new exclusive online series to chainstoreage.com, featuring trending topics that impact the retail real estate landscape.

In recent years, a very old practice has gotten some new attention: design is once again ascendant in the world of commercial development.

While design never went away, of course, the degree to which great design is being prioritized, cultivated and integrated into the development of memorable spaces and places is noteworthy.

Consumers don’t see “channels.” They are time-starved and information-rich, and use technology that they carry around in their pockets and purses to find the best solutions to their lifestyle needs.

The practice in retail of creating different brand experiences in different channels has gone beyond being an inconvenience to shoppers. It is the central challenge that retailers are grappling with today.

Retail is becoming an increasingly hot market for hosted cloud computing providers. Some of those providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the Aliyun cloud division of Alibaba, are operated by retailers.

The idea of pure play retail has evaporated. Retail’s continuing transformation and complex landscape now centers on the convergence of digital and physical channels, otherwise known as “digical.” The industry can no longer talk about analytics in isolation anymore – the shopper’s journey is channel-agnostic and retailers are in catch-up mode.

For the first time in history, business and consumers can be robbed and conned by strangers who are thousands of miles away and nearly impossible to catch. The e-commerce ecosystem is clearly struggling to cope with all the new and multiplying forms of fraud.

Data security has been a hot topic in the world of retail IT lately. Based on some recent retail data security-related news items, I have compiled a list of two don’ts and one do when it comes to securing your data.

Don’t outsource whole portions of your e-commerce platform

The Department of Labor’s long-awaited proposed revisions to the “white collar” overtime exemptions are finally here – at least, in part.  On June 30, 2015, the DOL unveiled its proposed revisions to the required salary levels for many of the “white collar” exemptions to the FLSA’s overtime requirements.(The FLSA establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments.)

Now more than ever, today’s consumers want to be treated as individuals rather than a market. No matter which channel is used to interact with brands, some level of personalization is expected. Whether it’s online, mobile or in a brick-and-mortar store, customers want a shopping experience tailored to their specific needs and preferences.

“Now Trending” is a new exclusive online series to chainstoreage.com, featuring trending topics that impact the retail real estate landscape.

As revitalized urban spaces continue to flourish in cities across the country, the concept of co-working spaces has gained considerable traction. The growing popularity of this new workspace arrangement is more than just another piece of the urban puzzle, it is one of the driving forces helping to shape a new generation of emerging urban landscapes.

Retailers are investing heavily in their supply chains in order to cope with surging e-commerce volumes, but customer experience enhancements must be planned carefully if profitability is to be maintained.