Author: Retailist Team

This holiday season could be one of the most intense for online businesses trying to keep track of their sales tax obligations across states. It might well be best to seek expert help.

Even as automation and new technologies come into play, workers play an important role. In fact, people are really at the center of true transformation. Creating a workforce that is eager to think in new ways, take on different roles, and be compensated well for their efforts will propel retailers into the future.

Rather than settling for standard reports and being constrained by IT, advanced business users can leverage data intelligence tools creatively in search of patterns that might yield future buying trends, opportunities for new solution offerings, supply-chain efficiencies, and much more.

Winning brands will trust the science – and data – of human behavior, and resist the urge to focus on price, or simply do little. Rather, brand and retail leaders should be diagnosing the elements of the experience they provide – or could provide via activation like promotions and digital content – to ensure they retain consumers, and even attract new users.

As restrictions initially mandated by the Covid-19 pandemic were relaxed, many retailers looked forward to opening their doors wide again and welcoming back their customers. Retailers, like many others, were ready for business as usual.

It’s a balance between creating relevancy and not limiting reach – in other words; you need to be creating targeted campaigns that resonate with your ideal shoppers and give your advertisers the exposure they are paying for.

Retailers who overstocked during the pandemic are now stuck – hoarding a mountain of goods in their warehouses that they can’t shift. With the return on inventory investment slowed, that can damage cash flow predictability.

The holidays are just around the corner. But while the season typically ushers in a surge of sales, two years of pandemic living has taken a toll on shoppers.

“Do not live someone else’s life and someone else’s idea of what womanhood is. Womanhood is you.” – Viola Davis.

While retailers have more tech budget to spend, two-thirds still don’t have enough resources and are challenged to hire and retain tech talent – particularly in the emerging tech space. As a result retailers want more value from their technology partners.