Category: Technology
The 2019 ICSC New York Deal Making Conference and The Ever-Evolving Retail Scene
The ICSC New York Deal Making Conference (“NYDM”) was held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center from December 10-12 and had more than 9,600 registered attendees. This year, ICSC offered much more content than at prior NYDM conferences. Over the course of 3 days, there were a total of...
The Intersection Between Technology and Retail: The Use of Blockchain Technology in Tracking Supply Chains
In the past few years, many industries have poured resources into exploring how they can use blockchain to grow. The retail industry is no exception. During 2018, the U.S. retail sector spent double the amount of money on blockchain technology than it had in 2017 and annual revenues from blockchain...
Intrusion or Tool: Consumer Data’s Increasing Role in Retail
It’s no secret that retailers have access to more information about their target consumers than ever before. This information can help retailers not only to target their broad market but also to tailor the communications they deliver to each segment of that market. Customers, on the other hand, are...
Technology Shifts the Retail Landscape for Open Air Centers
ICSC's OAC Summit 2019I just returned from ICSC's OAC Summit, which was held in Austin last week. For those how have not yet attended this conference, the OAC is not a deal making conference like many other ICSC conferences. Rather, the OAC is a relationship building and information sharing event, attended largely by...
New Payment Structures for a New Age
We’ve written about changes in the way goods are bought and sold, from brick-and-mortar to e-commerce. But what about how goods are being paid for? As the retail landscape shifts to digital terrain, retailers would be wise to think about how they accept payments to suit new ways of...
The 2018 ICSC New York Deal Making Conference and The Emergence of Digital
The ICSC New York Deal Making Conference (“NYDMC”) was held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center from December 4 – 6. NYDMC is ICSC’s second largest conference, with about 10,000 in attendance this year. The conference kicked off with Professional Development Day. One highlight was the Hidden Biases of...
Augmented Retail – The Use of Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality to Enhance the Customer Shopping Experience
As competition between brick-and-mortar stores and online shopping continues, retailers with physical stores are using cutting edge technologies to offer unique shopping experiences and added service to consumers. One type of technology that is being used in brick-and-mortar stores is artificial intelligence. Amazon, arguably one of the most disruptive...
International Council of Shopping Centers New England Conference and Deal Making
ICSC hosted the New England Conference and Deal Making event at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center last week, from July 16-18. Given the summer timing of the conference, attendance appeared light at times, but conference attendees reported busy schedules and productive meetings. A number of attendees mentioned...
ICSC RECon 2018--Stepping Into the Future
The Las Vegas Convention Center hosted ICSC RECon 2018 last week from May 20-23. Upon their entry into the Convention Center’s Central Hall, this year’s RECon attendees were greeted by the ICSC Innovation Exchange. This interactive exhibit showcased a broad range of new technologies, including autonomous security systems, digital storefronts and...
Preparing for a Retail Storm
In the past few years, we have seen increasing temperatures, rising sea levels and extreme weather across the globe. According to NASA, 2016 was the hottest year on record and 2017 was the second warmest year on record . In 2017 alone, the world witnessed massive heat waves in...
Credit Card Evolution: Goodbye John Hancock
For years, the signature requirement for completing a credit card transaction has felt something like an obsolete means of confirming a user’s identity . Effective this month, however, four of the country’s largest credit card providers: American Express, Discover, Mastercard and Visa, will no longer require a signature to...
No Relief in Sight from Website Accessibility Lawsuits
In February 2017, we reported on a surge in website accessibility lawsuits brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). This litigation trend has accelerated over the past year and shows no signs of slowing down . Title III of the ADA prohibits discrimination against disabled persons in places...
#Trending: Omnichannel Loyalty and Leveraging Social Media Channels
Technological advancements in the current digital age allow consumers to browse and buy products on smartphones and tablets, bringing an unlimited number of retail options to their fingertips—literally. Thus, in an effort to distinguish themselves, many brands are adopting omnichannel-based customer loyalty programs in favor of more traditional programs...
A Grocery Attack on Multiple Fronts
Amazon has entered the grocery store space with a bang. From the recent opening of its AmazonGo store , to its acquisition of Whole Foods last August, Amazon has threatened to disrupt the grocery store industry and has jolted the stock price of many of its competitors. But will...
Facial Recognition in Retail: "Attention all Shoppers: We Already Know Everything about You"
Are you worried that “Alexa” is listening to your conversations? Do you cover your laptop camera with tape and refuse to store your passwords on your devices? Well, it looks like even stepping into the mall may require full-body armor if you wish to keep your basic data truly...
What Does Tax Reform Mean for Retail?
We all know now that the federal corporate tax rate for many retailers is dropping this year from an industry effective average rate of 32.9% to 21%, as a result of changes implemented by the so-called “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” which was signed into law on December 22...
Rise of the Drones: Flying Over Newton and Registration Requirements Reinstated
The skies are a little friendlier for drones now that the Dutch police have suspended their squad of drone-hunting eagles . This is also great news for retailers, as drone popularity continues to soar with overall electronics sales . With more advanced technologies available to consumers and drones rapidly...
ICSC New York Deal Making (2017)
On December 6-7, the Javits Center played host to this years’ ICSC NY Deal Making Conference. ICSC featured a new format at this years’ Conference. In addition to the deal making opportunities on Wednesday and Thursday, ICSC partnered with retailers and leading real estate companies to present several hour...
Robots Will Reshape – Not Replace – Retail Work
As we have discussed in earlier blog posts , rapid changes in the retail landscape due to the rise of e-commerce and a shift in customer’s interests from old-school, one-stop department store shopping to experiential retail, has led to a recent wave of retail bankruptcies and store closings. The...
A Changing Retail Streetscape: Rethinking Shopping Center Parking Lots
A recurring theme of this blog is that e-commerce , mobile devices , and evolving technology are changing the retail landscape. It seems that technology shifts are also poised to change the retail streetscape. More particularly, changes to the design and use of retail parking lots seems inevitable, and...
Artificial Intelligence in Brick and Mortar Retail
Headlines about brick and mortar retail tend to be dominated by how these establishments are in decline while online retail is burgeoning. Fortunately for brick and mortar retailers, their demise is not preordained since tools from the online retail universe may also help them succeed. One such tool is...
Is Artificial Intelligence the Key to Retail Survival?
In light of the sea change in the current retail landscape, which was punctuated by the recent acquisition of Whole Foods by Amazon , retailers today are forced to ask themselves: How will we combat disruption in our industry by giants like Amazon and its few peers? To what...
Copyright Compliance: (Re-)Register Your DMCA Agent in 2017 to Keep Your Website Docked in the Safe Harbor
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) “safe harbor” provisions shield certain online service providers from copyright infringement liability arising from content posted by users on their website. Provided that the service provider registers its DMCA agent and complies with the other statutory requirements , the service provider may encourage...
The Ascendency of Accessibility: Surge in Website Lawsuits Continues
The proliferation of accessibility lawsuits under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has not abated. It is well-documented that ADA-related litigation increased by 37% from 2015 to 2016, which is symptomatic of long-term trends. Growth is fueled in part by litigants’ increased focus on internet-based technologies...
Mobile Payments: Exciting but Unknown
Mobile payment options are no longer the wave of the future. They are already here. It was projected that there would be almost 450 million mobile payment users worldwide by the end of 2016. These users generated $60 billion in mobile payment sales in 2016 alone. Certain studies project...
Blockchain – The Future of Real Estate?
Bitcoin and blockchain technology have been gaining publicity in recent years, and although they are primarily known for their use as a digital payment system, there are also promising uses in many areas where trust, cost and efficiency can be improved, including real estate. So what is blockchain, exactly...
FTC Publishes Data Breach Response Guidelines
Whether resulting from a planned cyberattack or mere carelessness, data breaches are on the rise. In 2015, 781 data breaches were reported across the United States, with the average breach costing $3.8 million. In 2016, the total number of breaches is projected to increase, with the average cost per...
Retailers: Embrace Virtual Reality Now (But Also Be Careful)!
We’ve previously addressed the hype that it is only a matter of time until brick and mortar retail succumbs to its online competitors. While we concluded that brick and mortal retail is not in danger of immediate extinction, such retailers cannot ignore that today’s culture requires the incorporation of technology...
Food For Thought: How Delivery-Only Food Service Is Impacting Retail Real Estate
Today’s consumer is a tricky one – she is impatient and demanding. She requires excellent service in the blink of an eye (or perhaps, more appropriately, in the swipe of a finger), and likes to eat meals made with high quality ingredients. Celebrity chefs have taken note. Chefs like...
Selfies: Changing the “Face” of Retail
Selfies are everywhere. From selfie sticks to photo editing applications, people are looking for new and better ways to take photos of themselves. At the same time, retailers are creatively taking advantage of our selfie obsession. Companies such as Crest and Freshii have been gathering market research from consumer...
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