How AI, e-commerce, and shopping local come together with new tools.
May 28, 2024
This morning I greeted our team by saying, “Good morning, Scooby-Doos of website sleuthing.” I then wondered what the Scooby-Doo van would look like with the words “Shop Local” on it. In the past, one would spend time to make this mock-up in Photoshop. My colleague Mark was able to make the desired image in minutes using the AI tool Copilot and no Photoshop.
The ease with which one can use AI to make new images and envision ideas will impact retail. ...
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The Atlantic shares how Chinese factories have found a new way around U.S. retailers and into our homes: Chinese apps. SHEIN and other Chinese apps are bypassing Amazon to be a new leader in Chinese goods. In addition to Amazon, Target, Walmart, and indie shops now have a new group of digital competitors embedded in customers’ pockets.
Except from The Atlantic article:
MATERIAL WORLD
IS THIS HOW AMAZON ENDS?
An open embrace of cheap foreign products has helped ...
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How technology hurts the entertainment industry just like Amazon hurts the retail industry.
August 1, 2023
Over the last three decades, Hollywood and many that rely on the entertainment industry have embraced ordering goods over Amazon.com. Recap: Amazon is a technology company that often cuts costs by replacing humans with code and robots and bypasses local red tape like, um, taxes and labor rules. Hollywood writers, producers, and ticket goers embraced a technology company that made their lives easier but often at the cost of others (aka retail workers).
In a 2007 article in The New Yorker, Atul Gawande, a surgeon and an author, advocatedthat more hospitals use checklists. He cited many medical studies showing how checklists save lives (and money). Implementing one checklist, a hospital "…prevented forty-three infections and eight deaths, and saved two million dollars in costs." The startling part: the list was only five steps long! In other words, people don’t consistently follow...
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September 24, 2018
September 24, 2018
I have a confession: I think Amazon can teach us something.
While I lead a fight to stop Amazon, I believe we can learn something by watching its massive growth.
We first have to accept this fact. Ready for it?
Here it is: you're in the software business.
Retail is becoming a software business for a few reasons, including:
1. Convenience: Itโs easier to shop on your mobile vs. drive to the store. Proof: mobile sales are up 40% year over year. Indie stores have to close each night. Amazon is always ...
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September 17, 2018
September 17, 2018
Why is retail becoming a software business? For a few reasons, including: 1. Convenience: Itโs easier to shop on your mobile vs drive to the store. 2. Selection: you can search 10,000s of items online. 3. Smarter: you can not only search lots of products, but the software will likely do the โthinkingโ for you. The major retailersโ software has artificial intelligence to show you the most popular items, the ones with the best reviews, etc. In essence, the software tells you what the best item for...
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January 5, 2017
January 5, 2017
From the NY Times, Thursday Jan.5, 2017
Start-Ups Hope Couples Say โI Doโ to Online Wedding Planning
Planning a wedding remains a largely traditional pursuit. For many couples, it is a frustrating months long project that requires sifting through masses of details and costs on venues, services and products. Now, a variety of start-ups are trying to cut down on that information overload by harnessing new technologies to capture a slice ...
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