Artificial Intelligence

Retailers will be excited by the prospect of employees that are never late and don’t need to take breaks or even be paid, but will customers accept them?
 

Photo Credit: Dylan’s Candy Bar
Personalized gummy bears printed on demand are now among the offerings at Dylan’s Candy Bar stores.   The retailer has partnered with Katjes Magic Candy Factory to bring what’s billed as the “first 3D candy printer in the world” to the United States. The U.K.-based Magic Candy Factory named Dylan’s as its exclusive partner for domestic retail and online sales.  

A record 36,000 retail real estate professionals are gathering in Las Vegas this week for the annual RECon conference where for an intense few days they will exchange ideas -- doing deals and showcase hot projects against the backdrop of a challenging retail sales environment and heightened omnichannel activity.  

When it comes to supply chain leadership and best practices, a fast food chain beat out the world’s leading e-commerce and discount retailers.

According to the new Gartner Inc. Supply Chain Top 25 ranking, McDonald’s led all retail chains with the number two ranking. Consumer products giant Unilever ranked first among all companies.

Personalization, retail bots and social media will play key roles in a new store concept from Kipling North America.

The maker of lightweight luggage and other accessories will unveil its first interactive store format on May 20, at Disney Springs, Walt Disney World Resort, Orlando, Florida.

The new store is designed to offer customers a unique and personalized shopping experience, with array of inventive “activations” offered throughout the space. It will be in the Town Center part of Disney Springs.

J.C. Penney’s corporate headquarters in Plano, Texas, saved more than $100,000 in 2015 by using an ice-based energy storage. The system, IceBank from Calmac, is one of the largest in the world, producing and storing nearly 4MW of cooling or 2.4 million pounds of ice each night. The technology has been in place at the retailer’s 1.8 million sq.-ft. headquarters for 25 years. Due to its design, it is still as efficient now as the first day it was incorporated.

There will not be a tattoo parlor in the new 365 by Whole Foods Market chain. But there will be less products, less employees and more bright color accents compared to a traditional Whole Foods—and there will also be a robot, according to a report in The New York Times.

Wayfair Inc. is turning inward to give shoppers a new view of its wares.