Predictive Analytics

What makes Xcel Brands interesting in the current retail environment is that it is a disruptive success story sprinting toward the $500 million mark in revenue while flying under the radar. If that wasn’t enough, it accomplished the feat at a time when many retailers are struggling to find a path to growth. Here’s a look at one of retail’s rising stars and the virtues of exploding the traditional business model.

Aldo's latest supply chain investment grants the retailer greater visibility and forecasting capabilities across the enterprise.

I recently asked Siri if she was human and she answered, “That’s a rather personal question.” Then I asked if she was a chatbot. “No comment.” Good answer. It really doesn’t matter. Siri has been a great assistant (virtual or otherwise) for seven years. Now, however, there is a new kid on the block, the Amazon Echo and Alexa and many other chatbots. Welcome to the new age of conversational commerce.

Making sense of the NRF Big Show gets harder every year. Not that it isn’t a must-attend event, it's just that so much occurs in a short period of time that post-NRF impressions get squeezed into an animated GIF loop that features AI, VR, AG, robots, and IoT. Maybe that’s just me because I was up too early and out too late for four days running. Fortunately, I took notes. 

As retailers continue to build their digital capabilities and work towards a completely unified approach they are placing an increased emphasis on e-commerce firepower. See the major trends that will have the greatest impact over the next year.

Find out how ready retail actually is for the online chat revolution!

Sephora latest AI-powered innovation improves the user experience and helps shoppers seamlessly find products among the retailer's thousands of SKUs.

RCAS 2016 was a rousing success. Check out this great post-event video and see what you missed and what you can expect at RCAS 2017.

Stores have difficulty detecting shoppers and measuring their behavior anywhere except at the cash register. Compared to the online world, brick-and-mortar retailers are flying blind until the final moment of purchase. Because of this practice many business decisions are based on past sales, educated guesswork, and gut instinct honed by observing the success of previous guesses. There is a better way.

Joseph Thompson, VP Marketing & Growth BuildDirect Technologies, explains the problem with free shipping and talks about predictive analytics at RCAS 2016.