Shopping season means waiting in line. But this year may be even worse. New chip technology in credit cards is making consumers' purchases safer but also appears to be causing longer lines at some retailers.
It takes a lot of work for retail brands to deliver a remarkable experience. It can be done, however, by making sure the environment touches each of the five senses.
Target is testing the online grocery delivery waters. The Minneapolis-based discounter has teamed with Instacart, the online grocery delivery service that started in 2012, to let shoppers in the Minneapolis area order fruits and other perishables, as well as household, pet and baby products, and have them delivered to their homes in as little as an hour.
Easier access to information is pushing the retail sector closer to what 18th century economist Adam Smith described as "perfect information" -- the idea of having equal information from all providers in order to make a choice.
Teens are shopping like their parents during the back-to-school season, and that's putting a lot of pressure on retailers to change the way they market to them.
Most organizations today have access to more than enough data to help improve their operations – the challenge is sifting through and analyzing all that data to find hidden insights so they can make better decisions about the future.
European officials want to make it easier for companies to offer e-commerce across the continent, and are asking whether some firms are putting barriers in the way of that happening. Among the actions they announced is an antitrust inquiry to investigate "possible competition concerns" put in place by some Web companies.
Most organizations are not following incident response best practices and are not properly prepared to face the challenges of modern-day cyberthreats. So says a new RSA global breach readiness survey that included respondents from 30 nations.
Will a strong system for protecting the privacy rights of computer and device users be in place 10 years from now? A sampling of technology experts says probably not. In a new survey by the Pew Research Center, more than half the 2,511 people polled said there will not be a "secure, popularly accepted, and trusted privacy-rights infrastructure" established by 2025.
The robots are coming. Lowe's is testing whether new "bots on wheels" can improve its customer service, like helping a shopper find a match for something as simple as a nail. Four robots are being tested an Orchard Supply Hardware store owned by Lowe's Companies Inc. in San Jose, Calif.