Artificial Intelligence

I know what you’re thinking … another article about programmatic. But given the rapid pace of advancements in the programmatic space, we’ve entered a time when advertisers and retailers are forced to reexamine their strategy, take a closer look at what programmatic means to their business, and prioritize the pieces of the puzzle they should be employing to reap the greatest benefits.

Retailers’ quest to offer shoppers a personalized experience just took a step forward thanks to a newly issue patent designed to detect and eliminate non-human Web traffic.

Denver – Another company has joined the constantly expanding ranks of retailers who operate proprietary innovation labs.

Demonstrating that the appeal of innovation labs is moving beyond major chains, specialty online retailer eBags is teaming with Iterate Studio to jointly create a two-part innovation lab.

New York -- Rebecca Minkoff has brought its “Store of the Future” concept to Los Angeles.  

New York -- A Swedish-based payments company that allows mobile shoppers to pay for a purchase after has been delivered has entered the increasingly competitive U.S. payments market.

On Tuesday, Stockholm-based Klarna announced its official U.S. launch, with Overstock.com as its first major retail partner.

Ebags is quickening the pace of its digital innovation by teaming up with Iterate Studio to create two new tech research labs.

Recognized by retailers as an early pioneer of drop-ship (1999), customer product reviews (1999), and A/B split testing (2000), eBags' goal is to pioneer game-changing services by embracing the new digital frontier which includes mobile services and the Internet of Things (IoT).

San Francisco -- The old-fashioned automat has been reborn as the nation’s first fully-automated, high-tech fast-food restaurant.   

Eatsa, a start-up restaurant concept, has opened its first location, in downtown San Francisco near the financial district. The format combines two of the city’s biggest interests: healthy eating and innovative technology. And don’t worry about tipping — there is almost no human interaction in the entire Eatsa experience.

Dallas – Shopping is becoming more of a snap than ever for mobile-savvy customers at Neiman Marcus.

The tony department store chain is partnering with visual search technology provider Slyce Inc. to expand the “Snap. Find. Shop” feature available in the retailer’s mobile app.

Retailers invest in a variety of systems to track a wide range of supply chain and sourcing activities, but often overlook the need for technology to track ethical sourcing. Ethical sourcing refers to ensuring that products retailers sell do not involve exploitation or mistreatment of workers, unsafe facilities or production processes, stolen or counterfeit goods, or environmental hazards.

Online shopping is driving more sales and foot traffic in brick-and-mortar stores than ever before. In fact, Deloitte expects digital interactions will influence 64 cents of every dollar spent in retail stores by the end of 2015 – that’s $2.2 trillion worth of in-store sales that are aided by e-commerce.