Wednesday 9 January 2019

E-Commerce Minute

E-Commerce Minute: Wednesday -- January 9, 2019

The E-Commerce Times -- E-Business Means Business
http://www.ecommercetimes.com
Part of the ECT News Network

Headline Scan
Microsoft, Kroger Ring Up Retail as a Service
Creating New Customer Experiences: 6 Retail Technology Predictions for 2019
How a Good Preorder Strategy Can Maximize Online Sales
4 Retail Tech Trends to Watch in 2019
2019 CRM Wish List
The Economics of E-Commerce Chargeback Fraud
6 E-Commerce Shipping Strategies That Level the Playing Field for SMBs
Is Weak Data Integrity Foiling Your CRM?

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Today's Story Highlights

Microsoft, Kroger Ring Up Retail as a Service

Microsoft and Kroger announced a collaboration on Retail as a Service to
equip stores with Kroger Technology products that run on Microsoft
Azure. The technology utilizes the IoT, connectivity, the cloud, and
data collection and analysis to improve both customer experiences and
store bottom lines. Two stores will pilot a smart technology system
connected by IoT sensors, running on Microsoft Azure.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85775.html

Creating New Customer Experiences: 6 Retail Technology Predictions for 2019

As e-commerce has gained serious momentum over the past 10 years, there
have been dire predictions about the impending death of brick-and-mortar
retail. The narrative has been framed largely as "technology is killing
retail," but the reality is not quite so simple. While technology
undoubtedly has transformed the retail landscape, it also has been
pushing the industry forward.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85773.html

How a Good Preorder Strategy Can Maximize Online Sales

Among the myriad of tactics that e-commerce businesses can use to pump
up sales, preorders might be the most overlooked strategy. Yet preorder
sales are a highly effective way to generate early buzz to gin up demand
for new products. A "preorder" by definition is the sale of a product
that is not immediately available to the consumer but will be sometime
soon.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85769.html

4 Retail Tech Trends to Watch in 2019

Year over year, we see the numbers. In 2017, e-commerce represented 49
percent of all total retail growth, up 16 percent. If this year's
$119.99 billion holiday shopping season spend indicates anything, it's
that 2018 is projected to be yet another banner year for commerce.
Online shopping will hit unprecedented, never-before-seen rates of
growth, and it'll be all thanks to technology.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85766.html

2019 CRM Wish List

I've been writing a forecast column every year at least since W was
president. Nothing's wrong with that, lots of people do. However, I
often find that my forecast is more of a wish list than a true
prognostication, so this time I'll dispense with the fiction of
analytical rigor and just say what I think needs to happen. First, the
industry is consolidating. The big and successful companies are
competing on a different plane than the smaller ones.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85765.html

The Economics of E-Commerce Chargeback Fraud

E-commerce fraud is an ongoing problem for online merchants and credit
card companies. It has been growing at twice the rate of e-commerce
sales. Identity theft traditionally has been one of the most common
sources of e-commerce fraud, but online merchants increasingly have been
suffering more from chargeback fraud, which requires them to absorb the
costs of disputed credit card transactions.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85763.html

6 E-Commerce Shipping Strategies That Level the Playing Field for SMBs

E-commerce continues to become more competitive as large companies like
Amazon, Target and Walmart soak up market share and customer attention.
Shipping window expectations have become shorter, and many online
retailers struggle to keep up, particularly SMBs. How can SMBs compete?
Not only is competing possible, there are many SMBs that have been
finding exceptional success.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85757.html

Is Weak Data Integrity Foiling Your CRM?

American companies spend an enormous amount of money on training.
Spending reached more than $90 billion in 2017, an increase of over 32
percent from 2016. It's unlikely that even a small share of the billions
spent on training last year were devoted to educating and motivating
employees to regularly and accurately input data into a company's CRM.
Maybe it should have been.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85758.html

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Editor's Pick: IBM Chief Sounds Cautionary Note on Deep Data, AI, Quantum Computing

IBM Chief Sounds Cautionary Note on Deep Data, AI, Quantum Computing

John P. Mello Jr. Jan 9, 2019 5:00 AM PT
	Powerful technologies like deep data, AI and quantum computing should be introduced into society carefully, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty declared in opening remarks at CES. "These tools are so powerful they will solve some of the most enduring problems -- like food safety, waste," she said, "but like all powerful tools, we've got to usher them in safely into society." [More...]

More Picks:

Creating New Customer Experiences: 6 Retail Technology Predictions for 2019
As e-commerce has gained serious momentum over the past 10 years, there have been dire predictions about the impending death of brick-and-mortar retail. The narrative has been framed largely as "technology is killing retail," but the reality is not quite so simple. While technology undoubtedly has transformed the retail landscape, it also has been pushing the industry forward. [More...]

Apple, Samsung Buddy Up in Smart TV Deal
Apple movies and music are coming to Samsung Smart TVs this spring. Samsung's 2019 Smart TVs will support iTunes Movies and TV Shows, and Apple AirPlay 2, Samsung said Sunday at CES in Las Vegas. Smart TVs made in 2018 also will be able to play Apple content via a firmware update. Apple content can be accessed from the smart TVs via an exclusive app. [More...]

Online, Offline Convergence: Give Shoppers the Best of Both Worlds
Online and offline shopping businesses have to work together to improve customer engagement and retention. Although some brick-and-mortar stores are suffering revenue loss to online retailers, there is still an important space for them in the shopping experience. By joining forces, brick-and-mortar and online stores can meet the emerging needs of today's customers. [More...]

2019: The Year Everything Changes
We are approaching critical mass on a number of technologies that we will see increasingly this year. This wave will start at CES, where we will see an impressive number of attempts at personal robots and AI-powered digital assistants. Most will fail, but both the failures and the few successes will set the stage for the first true mobile personal robots that will arrive in the following years. [More...]

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The Morning After: Fighting fitness and folding phones at CES

Engadget Email Newsletter

It's Wednesday, January 09, 2019.

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

It’s Wednesday morning, and it’s my birthday. In less important news, CES is still moving forward, with 4K OLED screens coming to 2019 laptops as well as real, tangible folding phones.

(View in browser.)

Verizon wrote a serious letter, and T-Mobile was more... irreverent.

AT&T gets burned by rivals over its fake 5G network

When AT&T admitted that its new 5G network was actually regular old 4G LTE with a fresh logo, the internet was having none of it. Verizon (Engadget's parent company) wrote a serious letter, tut-tutting AT&T for the move without mentioning them by name. Meanwhile, T Mobile was like… T Mobile, sharing a video showing someone simply taping a "9G" sticker on an iPhone. You guys. To clarify: No one’s phone is connecting to a 5G network yet.

It’s back.

4K OLED comes to Dell's 15-inch XPS, Alienware and G laptops

Dell revealed that 4K OLED screens will be coming to the XPS 15, Alienware m15 and G 15 in March. Back in 2017, the company also used OLED in Alienware 13 to great effect, and ever since, we've eagerly awaited its return. The new 4K OLED panels will support HDR, cover 100 percent of the DCI-P3 gamut and feature a 100,000:1 contrast ratio.

Can't stop opening and closing it.

The world's first real foldable phone is rough around the edges

Folding phones. Are they here yet? Yes, kind of. We got to test one out at CES, and while it’s not a Samsung, Royole’s rough-around-the edges FlexPai is an intriguing proposition. The novelty is almost intoxicating. In an era of samey-same devices, it's a tablet! It's a phone! At the same time! It’s messy, imperfect, but it’s here. Well, for developers who pony up $1,300.

With tons of shows & movies + Live TV for sports, Hulu is about to ruin TV for you forever.

The second 'Zelda' game will be available on January 16th.

'Zelda II: The Adventure of Link' is coming to Switch Online

Nintendo is making Switch Online more enticing for potential subscribers by adding Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and Blaster Master to its lineup of classic NES games. Zelda II was originally published in 1987 as a side-scrolling RPG, which was a huge departure from the gameplay of the first installment. If you’ve got your Switch Online membership running, you can pick up the games later this month.

Your giant smartphone decoration won’t ruin your phone any more.

OtterBox partners up for PopSocket case and better screen protectors

Phone-case maker OtterBox is feeling mighty friendly these days. The company announced a partnership with PopSocket to create a phone case that has the ubiquitous accessory built right into it. Essentially, it's just OtterBox's line of Symmetry cases for iPhones with a PopGrip built right into the middle of it.

Bad news.

Giant plastic-collecting 'pool noodle' breaks apart in the Pacific

The giant pool noodle dispatched into the Pacific Ocean last September to catch and clean up thousands of tonnes of floating plastic has run into trouble. Inventor Boyan Slat explained that the system would occasionally drift out of its U-shaped funnel, and that last week a 60-foot-long section of the barrier broke away. Slat's team believes that at four inches per second, the device is moving too slowly, and that the materials involved in its construction need to be reinforced.

Pro trainers on demand and motion-tracking gloves could be the ultimate workout 1-2.

FightCamp is a home boxing gym for the fitness-tracking generation

The first rule of FightCamp? According to the enthusiastic trainers on hand here at CES: Always talk about FightCamp. The idea appears to be a mix of online training courses, mixed with motion trackers sneaked inside boxing gloves. You whack the heck out of the punchbag to an ever-growing roster of workouts (at different levels, and it's not only boxing), for a HIIT workout that never gets old. Think of it as a punchy Peloton.

But wait, there's more...

1. What's next for HP's PCs?

2. I don't want to live in LG's vision of the future

3. Google Assistant in a smart display offers helpful live interpretation

4. Alienware's Area 51m laptop has an upgradable CPU and graphics card

5. Inside the Mercedes concept that's part taxi, part delivery van

6. Sony really wants you to know it's not a tech company

7. Razer's Turret for Xbox One brings the keyboard to the couch

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