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For decades, retailers have competed on points. Earn enough, get a free bag of chips. Swipe enough, unlock a discount on your next visit. The logic was sound: reward loyalty with loyalty. But something has shifted. Consumers are disengaged. Redemption rates are falling. And retailers are spending billions on programs that aren't meaningfully moving the…

The conversation has moved past whether retailers should adopt artificial intelligence. It's already embedded across the industry, powering proven use cases such as forecasting, inventory management, chatbots, and personalization. Yet many initiatives stall after pilot projects. Everyone knows the issue ultimately comes down to data quality — “garbage in, garbage out” is ubiquitous in AI…

The National Retail Federation (NRF) forecasts that retail sales in 2026 will grow by 4.4 percent over 2025 to $5.6 trillion, based on a newly enhanced forecasting approach developed in partnership with Oxford Economics, one of the world’s leading independent economic advisory firms. The announcement was made last week during NRF’s sixth annual State of…

At a recent activation, we had a diverse audience in the room — brand decision-makers, senior retail buyers, marketing leads, category managers, etc. But they weren't the only ones there. Their spouses showed up. Their kids. Close friends. Mentors from previous jobs. Nobody asked them to bring those people. They just did. Most brands would…

Analyze the structure of any retail organization and you’ll find multiple groups that influence the same outcome yet rarely operate as one system. Merchandising manages the margin at the point of purchase. Operations manages labor and daily execution. Facilities manages the environment that keeps products available and stores functioning. And supply chain is responsible for…

Ambient Internet of Things (IoT) has crossed an important threshold. What began as a series of promising pilots is now entering a phase of real deployment at enterprise scale. Major retailers and logistics operators have demonstrated that battery-free, wirelessly connected devices can deliver continuous visibility across physical environments that were previously opaque. The result is…

The most important moment in retail no longer happens in a store aisle or even on a single promotional day. It happens across screens, in notifications, in checkout flows, and in the quiet spaces between purchases. As e-commerce and digital-first journeys become the default, the traditional retail calendar has begun to lose its grip. There…

Lowe's announced this week it was launching HomeCare+, a $99 in-home maintenance services subscription program exclusively for MyLowe's Rewards loyalty members. HomeCare+ will include seven in-home services for regular home upkeep: electric dryer vent cleaning; HVAC air filter replacement; refrigerator water filter replacement; electric water heater flush; garage door lubrication; smoke and carbon monoxide detector…

When shopping online, customers expect everything to work seamlessly. There’s no room for friction like a pricing error, payment failure, or out-of-stock item masquerading as “in stock.” If anything goes wrong, online shoppers take their business elsewhere. That’s why e-commerce continuity is table stakes for retailers today, especially when high-profile events such as Cyber Monday…

Google’s introduction of the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) marks a structural shift in how digital commerce operates. Launched in January 2026 and already enabling in-app purchases from Etsy and Wayfair through Google’s AI Mode in Search and Gemini (with integrations from retailers and platforms like Shopify, Target, and Walmart on the horizon), UCP is designed…

Retail supply chains have become inheritors of upstream volatility. When manufacturers rank trade uncertainty as a top concern and project rising input costs, retailers absorb the impact through pricing instability, supply variability, and compressed margins. These pressures require response cycles measured in hours, not days. Yet many retailers remain constrained by fragmented systems and disconnected…

Retail leaders spent the last decade chasing Amazon.com's delivery speed. Billions went into same-day windows, next-day guarantees, and two-hour fulfillment. Here's what that investment bought: a trust problem. Only 9 percent of shoppers believe retailers consistently meet their fast delivery promises. Another 69 percent say those promises get kept "sometimes," according to a recent Locus…

Target will launch Target Circle Deal Days, a three-day promotional event scheduled for March 25-27, as the retailer looks to stimulate spring spending while strengthening engagement with its loyalty ecosystem, reports Yahoo Finance. The sale will feature discounts up to 50 percent off thousands of items across categories including apparel, home, beauty and more across…

Gen Z is bringing the mall back, and it’s better than before. Driven by experiential retail and mixed-use spaces, 64 percent of Gen Zers prefer to shop in-store when discovering new products and socializing. Deloitte’s 2024 holiday retail survey found that younger shoppers continue to favor physical stores for product discovery and experiential engagement, with…

Digital out of home (DOOH) screens provide the world with bold canvases for advertisers to delight audiences in in real life (IRL) across a myriad of environments. While the static image remains the cornerstone of high-impact advertising, the integration of video allows DOOH to transcend its surroundings, transforming a vibrant screen into an unmissable, cinematic…

Imagine you’re a retailer that guides a shopper to an artificial intelligence agent to return a pair of shoes. From a system perspective, measuring the agent’s performance seems simple: either it issues a refund or it doesn’t. But from a customer perspective, that only shows a sliver of the experience. If the refund requires multiple…

The first brush with “agentic shopping” often feels deceptively simple. A short ChatGPT or Gemini prompt, “Find a blue quarter-zip sweater in men’s size large,” produces, within seconds, a neatly curated set of results, complete with images, prices and purchase links. While discovery feels effortless, the next step, however, still reveals a familiar frustration: perhaps…

David’s Bridal, which offers affordable wedding dresses, bridesmaid gowns and formal wear, is launching a wholesale division targeting independent boutiques globally with exclusive designer capsule collections from Vera Wang Bride, Oleg Cassini, and Viola Chan Couture. The wholesale program is designed to reposition the legacy bridal retailer into a “global resource” for independent boutiques and…

Artificial intelligence is transforming customer experience (CX) online, but what about CX in the physical world? Frontline employees play a direct role in customer experience for retail brands. So far, these workers are underserved by digital transformation initiatives that could improve CX and employee experience. While most AI solutions are designed for knowledge workers interacting…

In large retail operations, category management teams spend significant time deciding which product goes onto which shelf and in which order. Shelf space is very expensive real estate in retail. According to Consumer Packaged Goods(CPG) Research, 10 percent improvement in shelf availability can drive a 5 percent sales lift. Shelf updates don’t happen frequently because…