February manufacturing output declines, notes ISM
jberman@peerlessmedia.com
The report’s benchmark metric, the PMI came in at 47.8 (a reading of 50 or higher indicates growth), down 1.3% compared to January’s 49.1 reading, contracting, at a faster rate, for the 16th consecutive month. …
3 Benefits of a Customer Data Platform
Roop
As brands excitedly explore ways to deploy AI and ML to improve their omnichannel experiences, they’re quickly discovering serious limitations because of how scattered their customer data is. The solution is a customer data platform. …
FTC Sues to Block Kroger/Albertsons Merger
Marie Albiges
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said Monday it would try to block the merger of two large grocery chains, Kroger and Albertsons, saying it would result in higher prices and lower wages for workers. If successful, the merger would be the largest for supermarkets …
New Supply Chain Due Diligence Laws Necessitate Greater Traceability
Stephane Boivin
The call for brands and retailers to fortify their supply chains with robust traceability solutions has never been more urgent. Countries across the globe have enacted tighter due diligence laws to prevent child labor, poor working conditions, and environmental abuses, ranging from the United States’ …
Walmart Easing Delivery Requirements for Suppliers
Joe Keenan
Walmart said this week that it’s planning on easing its requirements for in-full and on-time shipments from suppliers. According to The Wall Street Journal, Walmart said that it wants its suppliers to deliver shipments on-time 90 percent of the time and in-full 95 percent of …
Retail Has Been Slow to Embrace AI. Here’s Why.
Janet Cordova
Artificial intelligence (AI) may be the next big thing, yet most retailers wait on the sidelines, watching what other businesses reap from this new digital technology. It’s not that they don’t want to pursue this new technology. Working in low-margin businesses, retailers understand the value …
This Supply Chain Year Will Be Dependent on Politics
RCoates@bluesilkconsulting.com
Politics seems to be on everyone’s mind in this election year and the effects on supply chains are becoming evident in every aspect of our work. …
Email Marketing Trends for 2024: Competitive Differentiators
Offering the biggest reward for the least risk, these 7 email marketing tactics and technologies are rated as low adoption but high impact by our digital marketing experts. …
Future-Proofing Retail Through Wi-Fi Automation
Roger Sands
The modern retail business owner knows these facts: their customers expect an experience that’s efficient, effortless, and caters to their preferred way of buying. As consumer shopping habits continue to evolve — expedited in part due to the global pandemic that forever changed how we …
Conversational Commerce for Better Customer Experience
Michael Klein
Since Amazon Echo’s 2014 launch, conversational commerce has been a hot topic of conversation in retail (pun intended). The biggest question: How can conversational commerce improve shopping experiences? For the last decade, the answer seemed to be it doesn’t. Consumers struggled to leverage these tools …
