Artificial Intelligence

Lowe’s Companies Inc. is expanding its use of augmented and virtual reality to help customers truly “visualize” home improvement projects.

Amazon Prime members looking to quickly reorder goods have an expanded assortment at their fingertips.

Uniqlo has completely revamped its flagship on Oxford Street in London, doubling the space from approximately 12,055 sq. ft. to 24,100 sq. ft. and adding two additional floors, along with a rooftop venue for special events.

Designed in collaboration with the retailer’s longstanding, Tokyo-based design firm, Wonderwall, the store includes such signature Uniqlo accents as LED tickers and rotating mannequins.

Merchants intent on growing sales and operators eager to reduce shrink can both find something to like in a new service offering from global loss prevention leader Tyco Retail Solutions.

Tyco took the concept of software as a service, commonly referred to as SaaS, and applied it to the world of asset protection in a way that offers benefits to merchants and store operations executives looking to reduce shrink.

eBay Inc. is attempting to streamline how it serves content to consumers.

eBay has found that online shoppers follow some common patterns in proceeding from wanting a particular item to purchasing it. These patterns are driving the retailer’s new product and search-related enhancements.

Amazon.com has been slowly but surely building the capabilities of its interactive Echo voice-activated consumer device. According to Re/code, integrating Echo with the Alexa artificial intelligence platform to allow the ordering of new commodity items is only a step toward the final goal. Namely, full-scale, Echo-based access to Amazon’s entire inventory. [Re/code]

Retailers intrigued by the prospect of drone deliveries should be concerned by new data that shows a disturbingly high number of close calls with commercial aircraft.

The Federal Aviation Administration released data showing the number of incidents in which drones flew too close to a commercial aircraft increased to 1,200 last year from 236 incidents in 2014, the first year FAA began tracking the data.

A major experiment is set to begin soon on the campus of the University of Arkansas that could determine how retailers use robots, also known as autonomous terrestrial drones, to make deliveries.

Beginning April 1, London-based Starship Technologies will be turning heads on the rolling hills of the University of Arkansas campus as an important experiment gets underway to gauge human interaction with autonomous land-based vehicles.