Artificial Intelligence

What is the purpose of your business? If you are a retailer and your immediate answer is “to sell more products,” you may find times getting tougher in the months and years ahead.

Emerging economies continue to drive global digital payment transactions — and momentum shows no signs of slowing.

In a move to step up their customer experiences, more retailers are embracing artificial intelligence (AI).   This was according to the third quarterly “2017 E-commerce Performance Index,” a report from SLI Systems.   According to the data, 54% of companies reported they are using or plan to add AI in the future. The largest group of these respondents (20%) expect to add AI within the next 12 months.  

Consumers are becoming more digitally influenced on a seemingly daily basis — but omnichannel retailers find themselves hard-pressed to keep up the pace. Retailers need to meet their needs across all touchpoints, and create a frictionless shopping experience despite where the shopping journey starts and ends.   

1-800-Flowers.com continues to embrace the conversational commerce game.    The gifting brand is preparing to launch a program that will enable its customers to place orders via Google Assistant on their Android phones and iPhones. Using their voice or text, they can access a menu of gifting categories, and place orders for delivery nationwide. The service also enables users to specify same-day delivery or schedule a gift’s arrival for a future date.  

Walmart has officially gone live with voice shopping on the Google Home platform.   As it was announced back in August, the discounter is partnering with Google to allow its customers to shop for Walmart items through voice via Google Assistant, the search giant's online shopping platform that lives on its smart speaker. On Wednesday, the partnership went live, with more than two million Walmart items available through voice.   

Ikea is entering new territory.   The retailer will open a store on Oct. 11, in Fishers, Indiana. It will be Swedish company’s first location in Indiana, 45th in the United States, and 408th worldwide.    The 289,000-sq.-ft. Ikea includes one of Indiana’s largest solar rooftops, as well as three electric vehicle charging stations. Ninety percent of Ikea U.S. stores have a solar presence.   

Amazon’s newest acquisition could give a boost to the company’s fashion category — including its growing private-label apparel business.    The online giant has acquired Body Labs, a 3D scanning platform that uses artificial intelligence, computer vision, and body modeling to accurately create an avatar-like image of a customer’s dimensions. The 3D platform provider announced the news on its website.  

For many customers, the ideal digital “store of the future” will streamline payments and make it easier to pick up purchases.   This was according to the “Consumer View,” a study from the National Retail Federation that tracks consumer awareness and adoption rates across a variety of retail technologies.