Retail Critical Issues

By Joe Farrell, VP of international operations at PFS. 

Amidst ongoing political turbulence and the continued transformation of the modern high street, 2019 was a challenging year for retail to say the least. Brexit uncertainty, combined with the growing customer demand for sustainability and superior levels of customer service, has put substantial pressure on embattled retailers.

A new State of Mobility in Retail Report by SOTI Inc., provider of mobile and IoT management solutions, reveals that 67.3% of consumers perceive mobile technology as the most effective way to provide a faster shopping experience.

Majority feel better about their appearance than they do their job prospects.The latest research from the UK’s leading independent job board, CV-Library, reveals that even though nearly two thirds (64.9%) of retail professionals feel confident about their appearance, less than half (42.1%) feel the same way about their career prospects.

ONS retail sales figures for December saw overall sales fall 0.6% against November. But a strong showing from department store web sales saved Christmas for many retailers says ParcelHero.

UK business leaders are struggling to cope with the pressures of a rapidly changing world. Increased competition, political uncertainty and facing greater scrutiny are all making it much tougher at the top - according to new research.

As automation technology continues to mature, it is becoming increasingly a point of competitive advantage, with consumers responding positively to the improved convenience that it can deliver. However, in order to capitalize on this trend, retailers will need to prioritize automation that creates positive consumer experiences rather than as a cost saving exercise, according to new research from the Capgemini Research Institute.

By Patrick Vernon, freelance writer.

Equifax bragged about holding thousands of times more data than the Library of Congress. However, the “entirely preventable” Equifax data breach demonstrated that the company did not know how to properly protect that data.

Manufacturing & Logistics IT spoke to a number of experts from the vendor and analyst communities about current and possible future trends and areas of development within the world of Digital Transformation – including those concerning Artificial Intelligence, Analytics, Robotics, Cloud and Edge Computing.

Radius Payment Solutions has announced the acquisition of Macclesfield based business telecoms provider, Reliance Networks, marking its seventh deal in seven weeks.Established in 2009, Reliance Networks are a service focused company specialising in the design, installation and support of leading-edge communications solutions.

Led by cybersecurity analysts Noam Rotem and Ran Locar, vpnMentor`s research team discovered a data breach in a database belonging to South Africa ICT company, Conor. The breached database contained daily logs of user activity by customers of ISPs using web filtering software built by Conor.