Retail by MarketScale

Brick and mortar stores that start borrowing technology, agility and A/B testing from the digital space are the ones who'll emerge winners in retail. "Stores can borrow from the digital space," said Theatro Senior Vice President of Marketing Adam Silverman on today's podcast episode. He shared the state of retail from Seattle's recent Future Stores Conference, plus, Silverman shared his experience at the Amazon Go store in Seattle, a new checkout-less grocery store from the online retail giant.

For the latest news, videos, and podcasts in the Retail Industry, be sure to subscribe to our industry publication.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @BuildingsMKSL

Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale

LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

On today's podcast, we chat with Luciano Pesci from Emperitas, back for his third episode with MarketScale. (He's a professor of Economics, so this conversation is: 1. Super intelligent and 2. A little longer, but WORTH the listen.)

We discuss a few misconceptions that our host Sean had regarding the nature of currency, the growing strength and logic of both blockchain technology and cryptocurrency, the democratic (small d) nature of a decentralized structure, and the benefits this creates for the retail space.

Voice AI Technology Isn't Just for Amazon and Apple, Says Ryan MacInnis of Voysis

Alexa and Siri aren't the only artificial intelligence personas in town as Ireland-based Voysis looks to democratize voice AI technology for B2B markets. Ryan MacInnis, director of marketing, sat down with us at the Retail Podcast to discuss how voice AI is being used for smart mirrors in dressing rooms, online banking and even helping you pick a paint color for your wall.

On today's podcast, I have a chat with Megan Berry from byReveal. We discuss the fundamental ways which the new generation of consumer is driving the retail experience, how static thinking can be extremely detrimental to a company's survival, and I finally use a good metaphor involving ships.

One of the major drawbacks to shopping for clothes online is the uncertainty of whether or not what you buy will fit once it arrives at your home. Amazon Prime Wardrobe is an attempt at lowering that stress for Prime Members.

Amazon has created a service that allows members to pack a box with up to 8 items of clothing. They then have a week to try them on before being charged for any items they choose to keep. This is Amazon’s offering to compete with popular personalized shopping services like Trunk and Stitch Fix.

One main difference in the Amazon process is that the customer is tasked with selecting from a curated ecosystem of clothing which is presented in Prime Wardrobe. Companies that are available to choose from include: Nine West, Disney, Stuart Weitzman, Gymboree and many more. Amazon’s private label lines are also available in the program.

The service which has been in beta over the past year is now available to all Prime members in the U.S.

On today's podcast, we hear from Adam Silverman Senior Vice President of Marketing for Theatro. We discussed the ways Theatro brings the e-commerce environment to the brick-and-mortar arena, the ease of training employees to do what they naturally already know, the future of voice-activated communication systems, and how the shopping experience can matter as much as the thing you're shopping for.

For the latest news, videos, and podcasts in the Retail Industry, be sure to subscribe to our industry publication.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – twitter.com/marketscale

Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale

LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

On today's podcast, we chatted with Maia Bittner, Co-Founder of Pinch. We discuss the seismic change in the world of credit score calculation, how the gig economy is driving new mathematical responsibility metrics, and some potential use cases for the Pinch process.

For the latest news, videos, and podcasts in the Retail Industry, be sure to subscribe to our industry publication.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – twitter.com/marketscale

Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale

LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Accessibility to a professional leadership & personal coaching is better than ever before. Today on the podcast, CONVEX Head Coach Jackie Werblo introduced us to the varied uses and applications of coaching from personal life to work-space culture, and how simply asking yourself, "what would I like to change in my life," can make all the difference.

For the latest news, videos, and podcasts in the Retail Industry, be sure to subscribe to our industry publication.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – twitter.com/marketscale

Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale

LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

One of the consistent challenges for grocery stores is the perishable nature of fruits and vegetables. Costco has partnered with Del Ray Avocado Company to provide avocados with an innovative self-defense ability.

The primary factor in produce waste is the natural deterioration caused by water loss. Apeel Sciences has developed a solution to help slow down that process.

While all plants have a skin or peel that protects them, Apeel has engineered an additional, plant-based covering that adds to the produce’s natural defense. The application is derived from the same materials that naturally comprise the original peel. This slows the rate of water loss, and results in produce remaining fresh up to 3 times longer.

The Apeel process fosters improved quality, transportability, and shelf-life, without requiring additional refrigeration or preservatives.

This process can increase the optimal freshness of avocados for up to twice as long, and that should make your love of guacamole much easier to maintain.

Reports of the demise of brick-and-mortar retail may be a bit premature if Japanese retail giant Rakuten has anything to say about it.

Rakuten, a rival to Amazon’s e-commerce domination, has just acquired Curbside in an “all cash” deal. The mobile commerce company, founded by former Apple engineers,Jaron Waldman and Denis Laprise, had been valued at more than $100M during its last venture round in 2015.

One of the most popular features in Curbside’s e-commerce suite is named ARRIVE, which can track a customer’s journey and ETA in order to have their products ready in an instant.

CEO and co-founder Jaron Waldman said in a press release: "For our customers and partners the headline is that nothing will change. Curbside will operate independently as a Rakuten-owned company with our team, services, partners and product offerings all remaining intact."

In an additional move to strengthen customer loyalty, Rakuten is also developing an in-house blockchain currency, Rakuten Coin.