Digital Retail Innovations Q&A – wiiGO

Following the launch of the Digital Retail Innovations 2016 Report (sponsored by Webloyalty) a series of Q&As with the leading figures behind some of the key entries in the report are being published. Here is a Q&A with Ricardo Silva, chief marketing officer of wiiGO, which is placed at number 7 in the report’s International Innovations table.…

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Movers & Shakers Q&A – Benjy Meyer, founder of VenueScanner

Benjy Meyer, founder, VenueScanner 1.What is the greatest opportunity for your business? The UK market for events is valued at over £50 billion annually and there is very limited consolidation in the market. The current experience for discovering, comparing and booking venues and associated event services is not designed in a user-friendly way. It’s a…

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IT challenges grow for established retailers

Life is not getting any easier for store-based retailers as the online specialists continue to outspend them with their larger IT budgets, which will likely put greater power in the hands of these smaller operators as they continue to commit more capital to new technologies. According to the new Martec International report (IT in Retail…

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Super Sausage Cafe wins Britain’s Best Cafe Award

One of the UK’s great institutions was celebrated this week, with the announcement of the winner of the award for Britain’s Best Cafe of 2016, which was decided by the voting of thousands of cafe-goers around the country. At a lunch in the City of London the Super Sausage Cafe of Potterspury, near Milton Keynes,…

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Retailers need more intelligent delivery strategies

Home delivery is not exactly the most profitable aspect of any traditional retailers’ business but it does seem that merchants are not exactly helping themselves when it comes to managing this profit-draining service. The biggest issue is the continued stance of virtually all retailers to treat every customer exactly the same. They are clearly not…

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New quickly becomes old with retail technology and business mindsets

What was particularly interesting about the recent Wired Retail event was that it highlighted how newer technologies and thinking are taking apart some of the beliefs that the earlier digital developments put in place. For instance, Randy Dean, chief business officer at Sentient Technologies, argues that with the advent of AI (artificial intelligence) the incumbent…

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Sleepy mattress market wakes up

Mattresses are an odd thing. Living in a relatively urban location in north London discarded mattresses are a regular sight on street corners, which has always seemed rather strange. My household does not go through them at quite the same cracking rate as others. Whatever the circumstances behind this apparent rapid turnover in mattresses –…

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Retailers can learn from the budget airlines

Something rather surprising happened to me recently. I had a pleasant experience when buying some flight tickets from one of the major budget airlines.   Whereas in the past navigating the websites of budget airlines sites was a long winded experience, the processes have been streamlined and ancillary products are integrated into the booking flow…

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Movers & Shakers Q&A – Ross Bailey, founder, Appear Here

Ross Bailey, founder, Appear Here  1.What is the greatest opportunity for your business? If you look at what companies like Airbnb and Uber have done to the travel and hospitality sectors, I believe Appear Here has the potential to bring as much disruption to the retail industry. Lease lengths are falling dramatically, and retailers are…

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Love them or loathe them, retailers can’t live without stores

Talk about a polarised view – the physical store seems to either be a millstone around the neck of some retailers whereas for others with a predominantly online presence there is desperation to get some exposure to good old bricks and mortar. Amazon seems to be on the cusp of opening convenience stores – up…

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Innovative Retailer – Metro Bank

The Name: Metro Bank. The Place: The first one opened in Holborn, London, in 2010 and there are now 42 branches in the UK with the pretty hefty aim of opening one a month for the next five years, which makes a grand total of… a jolly big number. The Story: Shiny, shiny, shiny. Metro…

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