Digital Collaboration and the 21st C.

WHY IT MATTERS: super proud to see Shopify taking this strong position to facilitate the job of retailers to sell on walmart marketplace. Great of Walmart to make it easier for small shop owners to reach Walmart consumers.

But at the same time, as you see in the screengrab, retailers have many marketplaces where they can (should?) sell their products - walmart, amazon, google, bestBuy, wayfair, etc. etc.. And this fragmentation means a technology and logistical nightmare as every marketplace has its own set of rules, regulations, technologies, and idiosyncrasies. The future is NOT simple when marketplaces are concerned.

WHY IT MATTERS: the use of natural language processing is bound to impact retail. But how? Better mobile assistants to help find and buy products? Improved customer service? In store employee augmentation via kiosks or sounds analysis of shoppers? Looking forward to find more at CES and NRF...

WHY IT MATTERS: covid crisis has forced 3.3B people in confinement to use digital technologies that have been developed and promoted for the past 20 years. I know grocery eCommerce well for having pionneered it in Canada, US and France since 1996. This article explores those forced experiment and what may remain once confinement is over. #mustRead