How the in-store experience is evolving, thanks to mobile
If you have been shopping at a Banana Republic Factory store recently, you may have noticed something new. Banana Republic is working with “flok,” a third-party customer experience platform, to deliver...
View ArticleHow fintechs can help create the future of banking
Many of the new fintech companies aiming to disrupt the industry are one trick ponies. They’ve got one claim to fame and they do it well, but they’ll have a hard time displacing the banks we see...
View ArticleFarewell to the landline: The future of customer service
We all remember a time when we were listening to the hold music on our home phone as we waited to talk to a service agent. False hope rang in our ears when the message, “You are the next caller,” came...
View ArticleNo matter where tech takes us, customers still need a human touch
If you’re aiming for omni-channel excellence, or simply looking to thrive on your channels of choice, don’t forget about the human side. In fact, it should be your first priority. With every new trend...
View ArticleThe cloud and the value chain: Creating customer intimacy
In my experience, brands don’t think much about the cloud—or software, for that matter—in terms of technology, but rather in terms of the business outcomes they can enable. For example, they do think...
View ArticleIn 2017, customer experience management should be your first priority
The customer experience can make or break an organization. Therefore, it is very important that you optimize the customer experience continuously. But how do you know where you stand? And what strategy...
View ArticleYear in review: My favorite words and phrases from 2016 and what I’ve learned...
Has business jargon jumped the shark? At the tail end of a year in which gifs have joined ‘lol’ and ‘rofl’ in work emails and I’ve realised that the guy with the weird punctuation was actually trying...
View ArticleWhy your company should stop fearing customer communities
People, by nature, are skeptics. They bristle at the thought of change. They’re wary of trying something new. I remember when I was a young boy, and my parents would take me to the neighborhood...
View ArticleCustomer-centricity: The best Christmas present ever?
The holiday season is upon us. Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone, but the rush is still on to promote and sell products and services to eager shoppers. So how do companies make their...
View ArticleWhen shopping is not enough: Retailers need to embrace omnichannel
Christmas has always been the most special time of the year for me. What’s not to love? A friend told me once, “It’s that time when everyone is a little nicer to each other.” I can’t disagree. And...
View ArticleA few of your favorite things: Our top 10 posts of 2016
It’s been a banner year here at The Future of Customer Engagement and Commerce, and we couldn’t let the holiday season pass without thanking our readers for their time and engagement. We know know busy...
View ArticleHow subscription food services are changing the grocery industry
In my home country of Sweden, work-life balance is an important emphasis in our culture. One of the greatest advances of this mindset has come via the digital world: the ability to order groceries...
View Article3 reasons to embrace digital in 2017
The end of 2016 marked a year of inflection for US retail. According to Forrester Research, close to 60 percent of all sales will be influenced by or occur online. The evolving digital revolution has...
View ArticleLevel-up your customer experience: Lessons from the gaming industry
From the first teaser trailer to the final level, the gaming industry demonstrates that it knows exactly how to engage and cultivate the interest (and loyalty) of its customers. And, it’s a goldmine:...
View ArticleThe future of food: A QA with corporate chef Justin Grilli
We recently sat down with Justin Grilli, a chef who has served up thousands of meals at corporate offices in the Philadelphia region, to chat about the future of food. Here’s his take on how shifting...
View ArticleWhat is cognitive commerce?
Imagine a world where offers come to you that you actually want, tailored to your specific interests, and customers come to a site and find exactly the products they are interested in, every time. Or...
View ArticleAmazon’s hottest grocery item is your time
I frequently hear conversations about whether technology has actually given people more time, or has consumed more of it, but one thing has become crystal-clear when it comes to grocery-shopping and...
View ArticleNRF 2017 keynote crib sheet: Look for the future in your failures
At the National Retail Federation Big Show 2017, Sir Richard Branson had a counter-intuitive piece of advice for retailers: every failure is an opportunity to move into the future. During a keynote...
View ArticleNRF 2017 keynote crib sheet: How retailers can make the most of the one...
It’s all change in retail. The one phrase on everyone’s lips at NRF’s Big Show 2017 in New York, from the innovation demos to the keynotes, is that retail will change more in the next five years than...
View ArticleDigital transformation: The longest journey starts with a single step
By Niklas Mahrdt The digital transformation is shaking the very foundations of many companies. It means abandoning familiar routines, questioning conventions, and searching for new paths to the...
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