Conflict De-Escalation 101: Cautionary Tales for Retail Operations
The holiday spirit may feel less jolly this year, and not just because customers and store staff will be wearing masks and socializing from a safe distance. The frenetic shopping season between Thanksgiving and Christmas has always called for extra patience in retail operations and—for some stores—more security guards. But holiday retail during the […]
Retail Industry Trends: Make a List and Check it Twice for a Successful Holiday Season
Before we can say 2020 is a “wrap,” there’s still shopping to be done. The challenge? For many, the impending holiday season feels a bit like the rest of year: rife with uncertainty, ongoing changes and unfamiliar situations. Retailers and consumers alike are facing things they could never have previously imagined. Retail industry analysis shows […]
Grocery Store Operations: What Shoppers & Front Line Workers Reveal on Reddit
2020 was a year of the ordinary becoming the essential. At the beginning of the year, videoconferencing was a niche tool for connecting remote teams, or staying in touch with relatives across the country; now, it’s the backbone of the business economy. The exercise bike was a rarely used contraption that sat in the corner […]
Can’t Touch This: Contactless is Now a Must-Have for Grocers
One of the biggest ironies of ecommerce had been how willing people are to purchase cars or 60-inch TVs sight unseen, but still prefer to choose their own eggs and apples. Then… the pandemic came along ready to disrupt an industry that was ripe for change. Hello, online grocery. In 2019, Publicis Groupe had predicted […]
Urban Outfitters Expands Partnership with CB4 to All Stores to Empower Store Associates with AI
CB4 helps Urban Outfitters improve customer experience and increase sales through solving in-store product buyability issues. NEW YORK, Oct. 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — After a successful pilot, Urban Outfitters is rolling out CB4 AI to all 200 North American stores across their chain. Urban’s store associates use CB4’s AI solution to uncover specific products with high local demand […]
CB4 Announces Partnership with Spanish Supermarket Giant Eroski to Streamline Operational Execution
Eroski, One of Spain’s Leading Grocers with 2,000+ Stores, Will Use CB4 AI to Improve Product Buyability and the In-Store Experience for Customers NEW YORK, Sept. 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — CB4 and Eroski are announcing a partnership to improve store execution and customer experience during Covid-19 and beyond. As a leading supermarket chain in Spain, Eroski understands how important […]
How Retailers Are Using Machine Learning to Overcome Covid Challenges.
In 2007 Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a hedge fund manager turned mathematical researcher, published The Black Swan, a book about unpredictable events that result in massive changes in the world. Two years later in 2009, the financial crisis turned the world upside down. As you’re reading this, we’re living through another black swan event. COVID-19 has […]
Retail’s Reopening Numbers: The Truth Behind the Headlines
On June 16th, a Wall Street Journal headline announced, “U.S. Retail Sales Rose Record 18% in May.” The article, based on data from the Commerce Department, describes how retail sales—including purchases at stores, restaurants, and online—increased by 17.7% in May from the previous month. In it, Craig Johnson, president of retail consulting firm Customer Growth […]
3 Realizations on the E-Commerce Shopping Experience in COVID
The coronavirus outbreak isn’t my first foray into the e-commerce shopping experience. My Amazon account dates back to 2006. Online purchases have been a mainstay through most of my adult life. That said, I have always been a brick-and-mortar person. I worked as a store manager in NYC for over a decade, and now work […]
Covid Retail Restructurings: Just in Time or Too Little Too Late?
Birthday parties. Vacations. Your daily commute. Everything, including a trip to the store, changed completely in 2020. City and state governments, along with some of the biggest companies on the planet are all rethinking budgets and resource allocation. Many retailers are doing the same with highly public restructuring moves. Historically, restructuring (read: closing stores, cutting […]
