Artificial Intelligence

Most of us don’t know our customers.

Picture the shopper who walks into a store. They’re blank canvases with no visible history, and that means there’s no easy way for sales associates to shape what happens in the next 10, 20 or 30 minutes, before they walk back out the door.

Videos just became more valuable to retailers. YouTube is releasing Shopping ads, a new advertising format that lets viewers click and buy products directly from videos.

Chain Store Age talked with Michael Puline, senior VP of leasing, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, for DLC Management Corp., about trends, technology, and projects on the board.

[quote-from-article] If you could isolate five current trends in retail real estate, what would they be?
Here are my top five:

In this ever-changing, fast-paced world, it is no wonder that retail businesses must adapt to how consumers shop. With smartphones, online shopping and detailed comparison sites, shoppers are now more informed than ever about what they want. This evolution has impacted the role that retailers play in assisting consumers in their shopping experiences.

Despite the ongoing emphasis on energy conservation, many retailers still underestimate the benefits of energy-efficient products and systems. David Ely, of EDSS, told Chain Store Age that reducing energy and carbon emissions is only going to become more important as cities address energy at the local level and regulations become increasingly strict.

Chain Store Age recently spoke with Jason Miller, chief commerce strategist of Akamai Technologies, about how mobile technology can serve as a key component of omnichannel customer engagement strategies.

These are challenging times for the nation’s chief information officers — and speed is of the essence.

An annual survey of global CIOs found that digital innovation is actively causing disruption to business models, requiring IT leaders to move quickly to deliver new infrastructures, platforms and applications to meet customers’ fast-changing needs. An overwhelming two-thirds of all CIOs believe digital disruption is now a very significant change to business, according to the “Harvey Nash CIO Survey 2015,” done in association with KPMG.

One of the best ways retailers can make both their financial data and store systems more secure is to reduce potential vulnerability by removing financial data from the store.

“Take any credit card data out of your store systems,” advised Perry Kramer, VP and practice lead for Boston Retail Partners. “Most retailers don’t know what’s on their systems or their risk profile. You need a good inventory. Some data you might keep.”

The October deadline for retailers to accept EMV (Europay, Mastercard, Visa)-compliant, chip-based payment cards or face increased fraud liability has placed payment card security in the industry headlines. While important, securing card-based payments at the store is one small facet of the huge undertaking retailers face in protecting their entire network.

Detroit’s fledging reputation as a Midwest Silicon Valley took took a big step forward with the news that Amazon is creating a tech hub in the Motor City.

“Michigan is a rapidly growing technology corridor and we’re eager to bring the incredible local Detroit talent to Amazon,” Peter Faricy, VP for Amazon Marketplace, told the Detroit. Free Press.