I’m willing to bet decent money that you’ve come across articles to the effect of “Top X Technologies and Trends in 2018,” and that voice technology has ranked high on those lists. Some articles on voice and its impact on the retail industry deliver a terrifying and threatening sense of urgency, especially for CPGs. While retailers (and CPGs) need to have their finger on the pulse of voice technology, let’s take a big, collective deep breath. There’s only one way to compete in voice shopping, and that’s to develop a solid strategy.
Worldwide, QVC engages shoppers over 15 broadcast networks reaching more than 360 million homes, seven websites, and 195 social pages. Founded in 1986 by Joseph Segel and headquartered in West Chester, PA, QVC, an $8.7 billion business with broadcast operations in the U.S., Japan, Germany, U.K., Italy, France, and a joint venture in China, combines the best of retail, media, and social to create an extremely engaging shopping experience.
Alibaba is China’s biggest online and mobile commerce company, and it famously became one of the most valuable tech companies in the world after raising $25 billion from its U.S. IPO. Its Chinese retail marketplaces, including Tmall and Taobao, have hundreds of millions of users and host millions of merchants and businesses. Alibaba handles more business than any other e-commerce company. Lee McCabe, VP and GM of Alibaba Group North America, details the Tmall experience and why North America’s top retail executives should care.
In the upcoming March/April 2018 issue of Retail Executive, I dedicate my Viewpoint article to voice commerce, a topic we’ll be covering more diligently as the technology progresses. As such, I caught up with Saeed Amidi, CEO of Plug and Play Tech Center and Retail Executive Editorial Advisory Board member to get his take on the progression of the technology and how retailers should utilize it.
LP industry luminary Rosamaria Sostilio, VP, LP at Barnes & Noble, explains why loss prevention has changed drastically over the years and what retail executives need to do now to protect their assets.
Once privacy and security concerns and kinks in the technology are overcome, facial recognition technology will change retail.
In an effort to make omni-channel retailing more appealing to customers, many retailers have taken to experiential retailing — revamping the in-store experience to keep the customer happy and loyal, which, in turn, improves sales. In our last issue of Retail Executive, I talked about the why behind the need to focus on the customer experience in 2018. Here’s the how.
Alexis DePree, VP global supply chain, customer fulfillment at Amazon, explains how her leadership style helps her team operate the e-commerce giant’s complex logistics empire.
One of my fondest childhood memories is going “downtown” to Wilkes-Barre, PA, with my grandmother. Every now and then, she and I would take the bus to “the Square,” a colloquial name for the center of town, to go to Boscov’s, where we’d spend an hour or two shopping. Our first stop was the kids’ section, followed by shoes and handbags. Once in a great while, she’d surprise me by taking me to the salon inside the store to get a French braid in my hair. On our way out, we’d stop at the food stand on the bottom floor to buy popcorn to eat on the bus ride home.
Pooja Agarwal, VP of operations at Birchbox, explains her career path and how the pioneer of the subscription model remains on the cutting edge of the customer experience.
