WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

Here are my top six trends:

1-Niche Rich: Continued Customer Segmentation Refinement

2-Digital Meets Physical: Balancing Convenience and Connection

3-Sustainability: Casting a Very Long Shadow

4-New Formats: The Next Marketplaces, More DTC Brands

5-The Linchpin: Data and Technology

6-Mall Fall: Department Store Degradation and Mall Seizure

The pandemic has laid bare the broken business model for online grocery shopping and created new urgency for grocers to fix it, a Bain report said.

A landmark study identifying key shopper, brand, and retailer trends to provide a holistic view of the rapidly evolving ecommerce and retail media landscape.

Pop-ups may seem minor, but they offer a solution to some of the pressing challenges facing landlords, tenants, and the ground-floor spaces of cities — particularly amid Covid-19. 

“Dark stores” are a term for retail grocery stores whose sole purpose is the fulfillment of pickup and delivery orders. They are typically located at the last few miles of the customer, are smaller than a typical grocery store, and stock a lower variety of products in exchange for sub-hour delivery times.

Integration, Speed To Insights, And Real-Time Decisioning Matter Most For Orchestration

Vendors that take a technology-agnostic approach to integration can deliver insights at speed across all permutations of journeys. They also have a proven track record in real-time decisioning across a wide variety of systems and can help companies drive business results and CX differentiation.

Walmart’s U.S. sales reportedly jumped 20% in March as people stocked up on essentials—further boosted by a 190% increase in monthly downloads of its online grocery app, according to data tracker App Annie. Nike kept its China business from stalling, thanks to a fitness app that helped homebound consumers do quarantine workouts. And Lululemon Athletica has even reopened a few North American stores, not to serve walk-in customers, but to use inventory to fill online orders more quickly. 

From data-driven menus to the specter of the "kitchenless home," here's how online ordering and food delivery is fundamentally changing how and what we eat.

In January, everyone was online, and probably willing to try anything online. Now we don’t have a choice - we’re shut indoors for weeks or months. What does that means for work? Ecommerce? Health and education? And the people left behind?

Comprehensive data and expert insights on the state of the internet, mobile devices, social media, and ecommerce.

2020 Retail Technology Report: An Analysis of Trends, Buying Behaviors, and Future Opportunities. Get a better understanding of their current usage of technology, future technology needs and wants, and their processes within their organizations for technology purchases.

The coronavirus outbreak will continue to propel funding, acquisitions, partnerships, and experimentation by brands and retailers as they are forced to grapple with global supply challenges posed by our increasingly interdependent world.

Regardless of the coronavirus’s impact on the global economy, we will surely face a similar situation in the future; brands, retailers, and their supply chains will need to be prepared.

CloudKitchens is announcing its multi-tenant ordering capability through its branded “Internet Food Court.” It has created what it dubs a “superstore” on third-party delivery apps to aggregate all tenants from its Koreatown, Los Angeles location on a single menu to enable families or couples to order multiple cuisines and convenience items in a single delivery.

A recap of the Top 100 fastest growing & declining categories in March 2020 vs. March 2019

Workers can pick 2x-3x faster with near-100% accuracy and less labor, delivering higher productivity and a better workplace.

New retail concepts are challenging the traditional store format and pushing the boundaries of innovation. Retailers must adapt and cater to evolving consumer expectations to retain customer loyalty. Explore the top retail concepts from around the world to inspire your strategy.
- Identify new store formats applicable to your business
- Understand the latest retail developments to elevate your shopping experience
- Uncover tactics to maintain your competitive edge

Dive into Zendesk's latest customer experience trends report, where we'll explore how (and why) customers are driving the industry forward. The full report includes:

• Key findings on customers expectations when they engage with businesses
• The top 5 trends in the customer experience industry in 2020
• Benchmark data from leading companies that separate from their competitors

Our ranking of the top consumer marketplace startups and private companies. Who's capturing the most dollars? Who's growing the fastest? What's trending?

More than 1,500 consumers told us what they really want in their shopping experience. And they revealed surprisingly simple ways to improve your locations — and make your brand thrive.

Chaque coordinateur sectoriel du village francophone vous livre ses tendances du CES ainsi que trois de leurs coups de cœurs 2020 dans les 15 domaines d’activité du Village.

IAB released its second annual “IAB 250 Direct Brands to Watch” report identifying the top direct-to-consumer brands that are disrupting their industries and driving positive change in the U.S. consumer economy. This session will provide a deep dive into the report’s findings including emerging trends in marketing, advertising and data usage as well as ways traditional brands can leverage new techniques to drive growth.

Key findings: 

- Funding to retail tech companies slowed in 2019. 
- Retail tech deals shifted toward later stages. 
- Companies in Asian countries are winning more deals.
- Among the unicorns born in 2019, 31 were retail tech companies

- In-store retail technology investment grew significantly in 2019.
- Funding to e-commerce companies and related technologies declined in 2019.
- Deals to new retail formats also slowed in 2019.
- Funding to supply chain & logistics tech continued to rise.
- Deals to on-demand businesses slipped slightly.
- Online grocery and broader food delivery deals declined.
- Funding for artificial intelligence (AI) companies working across retail tech functions accelerated in 2019.

In 2018 I somewhat innocently bought very expensive coffee (Nespresso capsules) online from Ebay. What followed was a series of unexpected additional packages from the manufacturer Nespresso and a lurking suspicion that something had gone terribly--if not criminally--wrong as a result of my purchase. This talk chronicles the obnoxious amounts of obsessive research and tracking that became my new hobby--stalking Nespresso fraudsters and my decidedly non-technical attempts at developing a generic search profile and reporting the fraudsters to anyone who would listen, to include : the persons whose identities had been stolen, Nespresso, Ebay, and the FBI. Ultimately I just ended up with a LOT of coffee; a lingering sense that I had committed several crimes; and no faith left in humanity.

As the decade comes to a close, it’s important to reflect on the retail moments that impacted what you do, how you sell, and where you invest.

2019 has been a banner year for beauty tech. See what tech-backed cosmetics brands will continue to transform and disrupt the sector in 2020 and beyond.