WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

WHY IT MATTERS: with ecommerce explosion during covid shutdown the retail revolution has accelerated and this report highlights some of the area of retailTech which have received most interest from venture capitalists.

WHY IT MATTERS: very interesting DOs and DONTs about dynamic pricing. I see few retailers yet doing this at scale but with the growth of eCommerce one can expect this to become table stakes in few years. The operational requirements may be daunting if not done properly, so beware. A few good links in there but especially this one: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/how-retailers-can-drive-profitable-growth-through-dynamic-pricing

WHY IT MATTERS: found this example of displays that fail at McDonalds drive-thrus. It highlights the fact that digital transformation often means deploying new hardware in places where there not in the past. And that creates a huge number of issues in terms of design, maintenance, operations, etc. Very often not a big deal is planned but very much a big deal if not accounted for in the beginning. So think about cooling, electricity availability, repairs, software version updates, security, content upload, etc.

WHY IT MATTERS: this is a useful overview of solutions but also of the complexities that running a marketplace imply. Pretty much my daily headaches for the past few months... ;-)

WHY IT MATTERS: this is old news but a new picture that shows what it looks like when you track your delivery in China. The image is from March 2021 even though the article is from 2020. So it seems to remain after a year. Not sure when it will be part of the UBER app... ;-)

WHY IT MATTERS: the scores and the ranking is not important. This list is meaningful because it shows just how broad and deep the automation has become in retail stores. Expect to see a lot of those in your local shopping destination.

WHY IT MATTERS: eCommerce evolution requires the equivalent of shopping malls, to draw customers into a single location. This list of top 100 solutions is very informative.

WHY IT MATTERS:  a great summary of the solution but also the payment processing in general.

WHY IT MATTERS: not most recent but still relevant reference architecture for ecommerce. Not many of those lying around... ;-)

WHY IT MATTERS: an interesting list of retailTech solutions, with recent updates.

WHY IT MATTERS: bear in mind that this list is pre-covid. But with so many retailers looking for solutions I felt this list to be useful. As with all WAVEs, have a big grain of salt and use the reviews , market positioning, etc. to prepare your own evaluations. And don'T discard solutions because they are not on the list. This is for B2B.

WHY IT MATTERS: bear in mind that this list is pre-covid. But with so many retailers looking for solutions I felt this list to be useful. As with all WAVEs, have a big grain of salt and use the reviews , market positioning, etc. to prepare your own evaluations. And don'T discard solutions because they are not on the list. This is for B2C.

WHY IT MATTERS: although the focus is on Israel startups the analysis applies worldwide IMO.

WHY IT MATTERS: a simple overview of cloud based ecommerce solutions that small businesses should consider.

WHY IT MATTERS: the explosion of ecommerce due to covid lockdown will see impacts in years to come. This list sounds about right regarding what's coming in the foreseable future...

WHY IT MATTERS: picking the right ecommerce platform is not easy. This guide can help - keeping in mind that it is very biased to Shopify strengths ;-)

WHY IT MATTERS: this guide is specific about Google and Shopify but the principles apply to all eCommerce solutions and the various discovery channels out there (facebook, Amazon, etc.). It highlights the relative complexity and expertise required to let your eCommerce website standout in a sea of solutions. Retailers thus must learn new ways to market and merchandize their store and their products to standout online. In the illustration from the guide, just crafting the right title for your product names requires time and effort in order to make it easy for users to *find* your products on Google. Not easy, not simple. This is where Le Panier Bleu can help by reducing the clutter and making local retailers standout when buying local is a concern for shoppers...

WHY IT MATTERS: a great starting point for retailers looking for #local Quebec #tech solutions. One missing tech may be DVORE www.dvore.com for eCommerce... and www.lepanierbleu.ca ;-)

WHY IT MATTERS: last mile delivery is the Achille's heal of eCommerce. This report provides a great overview of the micro-fulfillment solutions out there.

WHY IT MATTERS: every country, state, region is faced with similar problem: keeping local stores alive during covid shutdown - and then later on in the face of eCommerce popularity. This article provides a non exhaustive list of French startups that focus on helping local retailers.

WHY IT MATTERS: this is a great example of the way small local businesses can survive - by creating marketplaces to sell and promote their wares. This is a vertical marketplace (focus on books). You also need horizontal marketplaces (focus on all stores on a street or region). And you need amazing search engines to let you discover merchants and their products.

WHY IT MATTERS: shopify as a marketplace is question I've been asking for months (or any other eCom solution). After all, once you build your own eCommerce website on Shopify, all the components are in place to create a marketplace: products, categories, inventory, etc. After all, a marketplace is nothing more than a superset, a combination of all those individual shops?

Well, not really. A marketplace is more than a collection of products. It is a destination that provides a single user account, consolidated shipping and delivery, a single destination to resolve customer issues. It is a service, not a technology.

Thus, even though Shopify has the *technology* to build a marketplace, it does not (yet?) have the infrastructure to provide the *service* that a marketplace requires.

WHY IT MATTERS: marketplaces are the next step in eCommerce, as retailers realize that technology is not the issue anymore. Expect hundreds of marketplaces to show up on your radar in the coming years, further splitting the market in multiple zones. Retailers will have to revert back to the old maxim: location, location, location!

WHY IT MATTERS: Google has a number of tools and solutions to help small retailers appear in google maps, google search, google shopping and other areas where customers go when they search for products.

Direct link to the solution: smallbusiness.withgoogle.com/holiday

WHY IT MATTERS: 5G telecom network promises to revolutionize many industries including retail. This report from Forrester presents use cases for 5G may bring but also puts those in context of what exists today and how fast the transformation will be.