Mon.Apr 10, 2023

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Reports: Alibaba Planning to Launch ChatGPT-Like Chatbot for Business Partners

Retail TouchPoints

Alibaba is reportedly looking for partner companies to test its Tongyi Qianwen AI chatbot, according to Reuters. A formal launch is expected on April 11, when Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group, is scheduled to speak at an Alibaba Cloud event. Alibaba has not responded to media requests for comment, though a person familiar with the matter told Reuters the chatbot is a large language model (LLM) targeted at business users.

Planning 297
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Latitude Group says it won’t pay ransom to cyber attack criminals

Inside Retail

Australian consumer finance firm Latitude Group Holdings Ltd will not pay a ransom to those behind a cyber attack last month, saying it will be detrimental to customers and cause harm to the broader community by encouraging further attacks. “We will not reward criminal behaviour, nor do we believe that paying a ransom will result in the return or destruction of the information that was stolen,” Latitude said in a statement on Tuesday.

Finance 246
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How Data and Tech Power Jewelry Brand Pandora’s Mission to ‘Give a Voice to People’s Loves’

Retail TouchPoints

Digital transformation isn’t easy for any brand, but for Pandora , with its 40 years of history and more than 6,400 points of sale across 100 countries, that effort is particularly complex. (Source: Pandora) Best known for its charm jewelry, the “affordable luxury” brand sells more than 100 million pieces every year, making it the largest jewelry brand in the world by volume.

Jewelry 283
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OSHA cites Dollar General store for ‘dangerous safety hazards’

Retail Dive

The Pennsylvania store faces fines for blocked emergency exits and electrical panels — the latest in a series of in-store safety violations.

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A Roadmap For Modernization: How To Break Free From Your Monolith Before July 31, 2026

Speaker: Jason Cottrell and Gireesh Sahukar

Retailers know the clock is ticking–legacy SAP Commerce support ends in 2026. Legacy platforms are becoming a liability burdened by complexity, rigidity, and mounting operational costs. But modernization isn’t just about swapping out systems, it’s about preparing for a future shaped by real-time interactions, AI powered buying assistants, and flexible commerce architecture.

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How to Orchestrate to Eliminate Regional Payment Barriers for Ecommerce Success

Retail TouchPoints

Regional payments can be complex. It’s like a symphony where each instrument plays an individual role but is part of the whole to create one harmonious overall outcome. For retailers and regional payments, consumer payment preferences play one piece, while checkout optimization and diversification play another. The question is, how can retailers conduct everything together to make ‘music’ and orchestrate regional payments for ecommerce success?

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Walmart unveils digital revamp amidst battle for supremacy with Amazon

Inside Retail

Walmart’s digital storefront has undergone a revamp, according to a recent post by the company’s executive vice president and chief e-commerce officer Tom Ward, which detailed hundreds of enhancements that had been made over the past year. These include refreshed holiday wish lists, a registry suite, auto care scheduling, virtual try-on, augmented reality, and virtual queuing.

More Trending

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Thailand’s promised cannabis bonanza disappoints as politicians trade blame

Inside Retail

Thailand’s decriminalisation of cannabis has delighted its fans, alarmed some health experts and has increasingly disappointed farmers who have been undercut by illegal imports, sending a promise of a new bonanza crop up in smoke. Marijuana has also become an election football with the opposition criticising the ruling pro-military coalition in the run-up to May 14 polls for rushing through decriminalisation last year to what they say is the detriment of society, youngsters in particular.

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Shoe City, Filing for Bankruptcy, Plans to Close All Stores

Retail TouchPoints

Shoe City has filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Maryland and plans to close all 39 stores in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. According to the bankruptcy filing , the retailer owes approximately $16 million , mostly trade vendor debt. Among Shoe City’s top creditors are New Balance , which the retailer owes nearly $1.6 million , and Timberland , owed $1.4 million.

Planning 242
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Banish founder Lottie Dalziel on creating Sydney’s next sustainability hub

Inside Retail

Sustainable product marketplace Banish will launch its first physical storefront later this month, which will tie retail, recycling and customer education together in the one place. The store, which will be situated in the middle of Sydney’s CBD, will be physically split into three different areas, showcasing a number of the business’ product partners.

Marketing 130
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Department stores added jobs in March as other retail verticals cut back

Retail Wire

The 15,000 jobs added by department stores in March were not enough to offset significant losses in other retail verticals, including appliances, consumer electronics, furniture and home furnishings, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The retail industry lost 15,000 jobs in March.

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Humans + Agents = Rethinking Enterprise Commerce with AI

AI agents already analyze trends, draft content, and trigger actions across leading commerce platforms. Yet most organizations still rely on workflows built for human‑only teams, losing speed, margin, and customer loyalty. Humans + Agents: Rethinking Enterprise Commerce in the Age of AI Collaboration shows how to close that gap. In one concise read you’ll see where agent gains surface first, how early adopters prove ROI, and which lean controls keep innovation moving without risking data or bran

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“Gym and beyond”: Why Kane Footwear is converting used shoes into yoga mats

Inside Retail

Kane Footwear is continuing its emphasis on innovative sustainability solutions, with the brand launching a new recycling program to convert its slip-on shoes into yoga and changing mats. The North America focused footwear company – which specialises in creating post-workout, active-recovery footwear – is encouraging customers to provide their well-loved Revive shoes with new life through its Project Renew initiative.

Apparel 130
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Whole Foods may open commercial kitchens to supply stores

Retail Wire

Whole Foods Market is looking into opening its commercial kitchens to supply prepared food bars to the chain’s stores. The grocer is looking to improve the customer experience in its stores. Whole Foods closed three commercial kitchens in 2017, before being acquired by Amazon.com, in a cost-cutting move.

Grocer 130
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Food-delivery startups Milkrun and Colab collapse into administration

Inside Retail

Grocery and meal-delivery startups Milkrun and CoLab have abruptly collapsed, culling hundreds of jobs as administrators work to sell off their assets. Milkrun founder, Dany Milham, informed staff in an email that the business will cease operations by the end of the week as “economic and capital market conditions have continued to deteriorate” forcing the company to shut down.

Finance 130
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Walmart sues Capital One to end credit-card deal

Retail Dive

Capital One failed to meet standards outlined in the contract, such as issuing replacement cards and promptly processing payments and posting transactions, Walmart alleged.

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5 Tips for a Winning Category Management Strategy in 2025

Category Management is a cornerstone of a successful retail strategy. While it promotes collaboration between manufacturers and retailers to optimize category performance, challenges persist in its effective implementation due to hurdles in communication and collaboration across teams and partners, and more. In this guide, we outline five essential strategies for success in 2025 that will touch on all the essential pieces of a successful strategy and implementation.

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Mexican drought led to current Sriracha shortage

Retail Wire

A drought in Mexico last year cut the number of red jalapeño peppers harvested. The peppers are a crucial ingredient in Sriracha, which has seen its inventory levels cut. “Although some production did resume this past fall season, we continue to have a limited supply that continues to affect our production,” Huy Fong Foods, which makes the condiment, said in a statement.

ATS 100
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How one retailer is making real customer connections

Retail Dive

Creating memorable experiences that capture the attention of your shoppers requires a combination of media solutions that stimulates all of the human senses.

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AI blurs the line between real and fake

Retail Wire

Artificial intelligence is improving at creating images and videos that appear to be the real thing but are anything but. “The tools are going to get better, they’re going to get cheaper, and there will come a day when nothing you see on the internet can be believed,” said Wasim Khaled, CEO of Blackbird.AI, a company that fights disinformation.

ATS 100
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S&P Global takes Kohl’s down a notch after weak Q4

Retail Dive

The retailer’s high C-suite turnover, its status as a department store and an uncertain economy could limit its progress this year, the ratings firm warned.

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Cut Costs & Complexity: Smarter Fulfillment for Home, Furniture & DIY Brands

Late deliveries. Split shipments. Spiraling freight costs. For home, furniture, and DIY brands, fulfillment has never been more complex—or more critical. This report outlines how a smarter, AI-ready order management system (OMS) helps you reduce shipping costs, streamline project-based fulfillment, and ensure accurate inventory across every channel.

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Walmart becomes grocery leader in the Pittsburgh market

Retail Wire

Walmart now has 25 percent of the grocery market share in Pittsburgh, knocking Giant Eagle out of the top slot for the first time in decades. Giant Eagle now has a 21 percent market share, according to Chain Store Guide.

Marketing 100
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Casper to sell Canadian operations for $20.6M

Retail Dive

The disruptor is handing over its Canadian business to traditional retailer Sleep Country, which operates 290 corporate-owned stores and 20 warehouses.

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OSHA finds more ‘dangerous safety hazards’ at Dollar General stores

Retail Wire

Inspectors from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found that Dollar General stores in New Jersey and Pennsylvania were putting staff members at risk by failing to comply with federal laws. Dollar General has been fined $15 million since 2017 for blocked emergency exits and other failures to comply with safety measures. The dollar store chain’s locations “regularly review and refine our safety programs, and reinforce them through training, ongoing communication,

ATS 100
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How retailers can weather an economic storm with bespoke BNPL options

Retail Dive

Providing customers with an easier way to afford larger purchases, and making upgrades and different feature configurations available, helps retailers remain competitive.

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What Your Financial Statements Are Telling You—And How to Listen!

Speaker: David Worrell, CFO, Author & Speaker

Your financial statements hold powerful insights—but are you truly paying attention? Many finance professionals focus on the income statement while overlooking key signals hidden in the balance sheet and cash flow statement. Understanding these numbers can unlock smarter decision-making, uncover risks, and drive long-term success. Join David Worrell, accomplished CFO, finance expert, and author, for an engaging, nontraditional take on reading financial statements.

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Walmart makes ‘dark store’ argument to limit property tax payments in Michigan

Retail Wire

Walmart is making a legal argument in Houghton, MI, that it should pay property taxes based on the value of its land and building and not its business operations. The city disagrees, claiming that Walmart in 2004 agreed to pay future taxes based on favorable terms it gave the retailer to build and open a store there.

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Puma assembles team of young activists to tailor sustainability initiatives

Retail Dive

The “Voices of a Re:Generation” program seeks to boost Puma’s efforts around climate change, a top priority for Gen Z on which many brands miss the mark.

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Mobile POS Systems: What They Are and Their Benefits

Shopify

A mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) system consists of software and portable hardware that processes your shop’s transactions. It calculates sales totals, processes payments, tracks inventory, collects business data, and much more.

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Care/of launches at Sam’s Club

Retail Dive

The DTC vitamin and supplement brand, which introduced products specifically designed for the club retailer, is steadily adding more wholesale partners.

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State of AI in Sales & Marketing 2025

AI adoption is reshaping sales and marketing. But is it delivering real results? We surveyed 1,000+ GTM professionals to find out. The data is clear: AI users report 47% higher productivity and an average of 12 hours saved per week. But leaders say mainstream AI tools still fall short on accuracy and business impact. Download the full report today to see how AI is being used — and where go-to-market professionals think there are gaps and opportunities.

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Best POS Systems for Small Businesses: A Complete Guide

Shopify

A POS system for small business is essential to process payments and manage inventory at a physical location. Learn what POS features to look for.

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Today in Global Small Business: Will Humans Ever Understand AI?

LS Retail

©iStock/Ilya Lukichev What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners: Will humans ever understand AI ? Small businesses are using tech to go global. The AI hordes are coming. Quote of the week: “The key to artificial intelligence has always been the representation." – Jeff Hawkins Eight essentials for a successful global rebrand.

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With suppliers still wary, Bed Bath & Beyond banks on $120M consignment deal

Retail Dive

One analyst calls it “way too late and beyond a desperate move.

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Need to Increase eCommerce Sales? Analyze Product Reviews!

Wiser

Good customer reviews are one of the most valuable assets of any eCommerce business. A positive customer review can help provide potential customers with a better understanding and appreciation of your products, while negative reviews can help identify areas in which to improve. However, taking full advantage of all that customer feedback requires effective analysis and useable insights—that’s where workflow optimization comes in!

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SEO vs. PPC: Which Strategy Is Best for Your Business?

When it comes to driving traffic and growing your online presence, businesses often ask: SEO or PPC—what’s the better choice? This guide breaks down the key differences between search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, highlighting their pros, cons, and best use cases. Whether you’re looking for long-term organic growth or immediate visibility through paid ads, we’ll help you determine which strategy—or combination of both—is right for your business.