Spotlight Features

Scam texts are eroding trust in SMS marketing, creating a "friction tax" for retailers as customers ignore legitimate messages. New verification strategies aim to rebuild confidence before users engage.

In the print industry, e-commerce success hinges on connecting digital ordering with real-world production. Automation is replacing manual workflows and helping providers scale.

Private 5G networks from Celona and Digi aim to replace Wi-Fi in automated warehouses, improving connectivity reliability and safety as retailers scale fleets of autonomous robots.

Agentic shopping removes friction from online commerce while erasing the behavioral signals retailers rely on to detect friendly fraud, creating a growing visibility gap traditional fraud tools cannot address.

As retailers enter 2026, unified platforms, agentic AI, and automation are changing e-commerce operations, affecting personalization, payments, fulfillment, and the cost of competing at global scale.

Agentic, intent-based commerce is beginning to bypass search and browsing altogether, introducing a new competitive challenge to Chinese retail models and traditional e-commerce funnels.

Shoppers aren’t rushing anymore — they’re pacing. Retailers have taken notice, moving beyond one-day flash deals and stretching major sales events across multiple days or even weeks.

Retailers and brands that leverage packaging as a gateway to engage shoppers are taking the lead in the battle for attention in crowded marketplaces.

Expert advice from Constant Contact shows how small retailers can build momentum, personalize campaigns, and compete without relying on big-box discounts.

Aleran’s GenAI tool helps simplify B2B sales, but with some features still developing, buyers remain wary of trusting AI with complex decisions.

Organizational silos and skill gaps often block retailers from fully using shopper search data. Solving this requires going beyond traditional analytics to gain insights that better support search optimization.

No longer just a tool for efficiency, AI is revolutionizing how retailers personalize shopping experiences, optimize product discovery, and drive customer engagement.

Video has historically been a passive experience -- more look-but-don’t-touch than truly engaging. As brands navigate shifting expectations around engagement, measurability, and personalization, traditional metrics like views and completion rates are no longer enough to drive real value.

According to Forrester’s “2024 US Customer Experience Index," CX quality among brands in the United States sits at an all-time low after declining for an unprecedented third year in a row.