TECHNOLOGY

CSA Q&A: Walgreens talks about frictionless retailing
In an era when shoppers want a seamless shopping experience, Walgreens is pulling out the stops to deliver on their expectation.
Apparel retailer using social media to enhance product development
When Chico’s FAS wanted to put the “customer’s voice” into the merchandise it designs, it took a bold step — and tapped social media.

Online merchant ups the ante in online price war

eBay is stepping up its game in the online price war competition, and taking aim at low-cost rivals Walmart and Amazon, among others. Starting Tuesday, eBay launched its Price Match Guarantee on more than 50,000 deals in the United States. As the name suggests, the program promises that an eligible deal will be the best price available online, or eBay will match the lower price found on a competitor’s website.
Walmart to suppliers: Get off Amazon cloud

Walmart is asking its technology suppliers to pick sides in its retailing war with Amazon. The retailing giant reportedly warned some tech companies that if they want its business, they can't run applications on Amazon’s cloud platform, Amazon Web Services. Walmart currently partners with tech suppliers that already leverage cloud apps running on AWS, although the retailer didn’t reveal which applications or how many they use, sources told the Wall Street Journal.
Commentary: Amazon accelerating e-commerce disruption of apparel

Apparel is at a tipping point. E-commerce currently accounts for 17%-20% of total apparel sales in the U.S. Historically, when e-commerce surpasses the 20% threshold of a retail category Amazon comes in and makes a big wave, because Amazon is the main beneficiary of e-commerce capturing half of all growth in online retail. We’ve witnessed it time and time again in both media and electronics, and now it’s happening in apparel.
Study: Why shoppers choose offline over online

Physical stores still have some key benefits over online retail.
Amazon in big apparel move with 'try-before-you-buy' service
Whole Foods Markets CEO expects Amazon deal to evolve the brand

The ink is barely dry on Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods Markets, yet the natural grocer’s CEO implied that “big ideas” are already in the works.
Study: M-commerce growth helps shrink mobile user acquisition costs

Consumer reliance on mobility throughout their shopping journey presents a huge opportunity for retailers to engage shoppers. This is according to “Mobile Shopping: User Acquisition Trends and Benchmarks 2017,” a report from mobile app marketing provider Liftoff. The study analyzed 26.9 billion ad impressions across 4.8 million app installs between April 2016 and April 2017.
AmEx: Digital security concerns influence purchase behavior

Merchants may be losing out on potential e-commerce sales due to shoppers’ concerns over the security of their information in the digital world.