The retail world is changing more rapidly than ever, and organizations need to deliver solutions to market faster than at any point in history. This need has driven a push to adopt Agile delivery methodologies such as Scrum, Lean and Kanban. What are the benefits and drawbacks of migrating toward Agile? The appeal of Agile…
Category: RETAILSYSTEMS+
EMV 3DS - Going to the store? Not really!
From the first moment that humanity started to identify its primary needs, it was clear that many tasks required more than one individual to complete them. The first humans had to make teams, organize, and eventually, exchange with other teams… So began payment transactions. Many years later, money was invented; and many (many, many) years…
Has Success Made You Overlook the Threat of Digital Disruption?
20 Questions to Help You Get Past Success Bias Industry after industry has faced digital disruption. None have been immune, yet companies can continue to enjoy industry leading success while a competitor or start-up builds a disruptive product or business model. For example, Steve Ballmer, former CEO of Microsoft, famously said that the iPhone wouldn’t…
End-to-End Mobile Service or Technology Facilitator?
My family’s recent ordering experience was straightforward and easy – 45 minutes after we placed a food delivery order through an app, our food arrived – the food I wanted was included while my wife’s food was missing completely. At that moment, our incomplete order made us part of an ongoing debate without our realizing…
Friction in the Frictionless Journey
The following has been re-posted from Convenience Store Decisions. The original post can be found here. There is still so much that needs to be changed in the quest to eliminate friction in the customer experience and lessons to be learned that the c-store/petro industry should consider as it ventures into making the forecourt stop…
Data Privacy and the Consumer Relationship
The conversation around data privacy and trust is evolving. In allowing consumers the right to access and the right to delete personal information that a merchant maintains, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was the first sweeping law of its kind. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) followed not long after, and Washington state has…
POS Systems Advance
The following has been re-posted from the April 2019 edition of Convenience Store Decisions. Don’t blink. It’s only been two months since NRF’s Big Show, where I thought I had learned everything happening with point-of-sale (POS) systems that could possibly impact the convenience and petroleum industry. Well, as time moves on, I’ve learned even more…
Kroger and Microsoft Partner to Create Digital Grocery Store Concept
The following has been re-posted from Loyalty360. The original post can be found here. Retail giant Kroger has announced a new partnership with Microsoft, which aims to improve customer experience by employing the technology company’s popular cloud-based platform Microsoft Azure. Through the partnership, Kroger hopes to create a connected in-store experience. The alliance is…
Whitepaper: Data Privacy
From the Target and Home Depot breaches to Marriott’s most recent breach weeks ago, data breaches are becoming a near-daily part of the standard news cycle. In response to the increasing concern over consumer data privacy, numerous government entities are evaluating and drafting consumer data privacy protection laws. The European Union was a first mover…
Don’t Miss Your Future – Four Blind Spots that Retailers Need to Recognize
Since Marc Andreessen’s prediction in 2013 that “…retail guys are going out of business and ecommerce will become the place everyone buys…,”1 there has been a cascade of opinions and predictions about the digital disruption of retail. Hindsight teaches us that digital disruption is about more than technology. In spite of the dire predictions, incumbent…
The Challenges of Being a Marketing Professional
Being a marketer often feels like living in a Holiday Inn Express commercial. An employee you’ve never seen before walks up to your desk and offers some advice: “I think you should make the logo bigger and use some glitter.” “I’m sorry, you don’t look familiar. Are you new in the marketing department?” “No, I’m…
NACS Show: Innovating Like a Start Up
The following originally appeared in Convenience Store Decisions and features W. Capra Senior Consultant, Jim Duboyce. Sheetz aims to empower an incubator team to strategize new initiatives for Sheetz that will position it for the future. In a Sunday, Oct. 7 educational session on innovating like a start up, Moderator Jim Duboyce, senior consultant, W. Capra Consulting,…