Is technology helping UK retailers?
Three of the UK's largest retailers did poorly over the holiday season. Others did well. What's going on? Online comments suggest that once again, retailers are ignoring the basics of a solid customer experience.
Retail e-commerce and the omni-channel
Jessica Twentyman meets: Ocado's guerrilla recruiter
In the first of her weekly profiles, Jessica Twentyman talks to Paul Clarke, CTO at online grocery store Ocado, about the challenges of recruiting the right team to support the company's growth plans.
The Internet of ka-chings
We often forget how the spread of e-commerce and cloud innovation is held back by the drag of local laws and behaviors
Groupon does a deal on new challenges
The need to evolve and mature is why Groupon’s been focusing investment on a number of key area, most notably mobile, local, pull and its One Playbook pitch.
Retail and banking: do they care?
Consolidation makes for strange bedfellows but does it hinder consumer choice? How about the use of social tools?
Burger me! Super-sizing digital at McDonald's
Burger King upped its online presence when it took to Twitter to promo its Satisfries with a supposed name change. Rival McDonald's meanwhile is upping the digital ante with its first Chief Digital Officer. It's a fight to the finish.
Retail 2020 - every little helps in Tesco's digital thinking
Tesco's CIO/CMO double act may not convince me that Gartner's got it right but the duo paint a compelling picture of retail's digital future.
The unhealthy Jawbone UP has a 60 day life
Jawbone UP's lack of reliability is leading to many hundreds of complaint. Jawbone's response is admirable on the surface but the issues are much deeper. It shows no sign of resolving them.
Flora's social backlash spread over homophobic ad
Someone at Flora's South African ad agency has an unfortunate sense of 'humour'. But what marketing lessons need to be learned from the Unilever brand's debacle?
Paddy Power spreads bet on social, mobile and retail
Paddy Power has betting shops in the high street, on your mobile phone, coming to your tablet and targeting your Facebook account - all in the name of a multi-channel strategy.
Gap goes back to basics for Back to Blue
Gap has made significant high-profile investments in its digital strategies, but this fall the siren lure of the TV advertisement is calling it back.
Dangdang: more than China's Amazon.com?
China's Dangdang, a Beijing-based, New York Stock Exchange-listed competitor to Amazon.com, is in the process of transforming itself into an wide-ranging ecommerce marketplace.
Test the business process before you build the software
Don't get starry-eyed about technology until you've found the best way to deliver a business outcome. Get the real-world experience first, invest in the technology later and only if it confirms the real world need.
