Category Archives: Retail

H&M Retail Chain Uses Accounting Data to Stock 4,288 Stores

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The retail industry is undergoing another major shift — to e-commerce.

The world’s largest clothing brand is turning to artificial intelligence to win back shoppers, reports The Wall Street Journal (May 8, 2018), as it works to reverse one of the worst sales slumps in its history. H&M retail chain is ramping up its use of data to customize what it sells in individual stores, breaking with its longstanding practice of stocking stores around the globe with similar merchandise. A spike in online shopping has led to fewer customers visiting stores, and digital startups are putting up fierce competition. H&M has repeatedly slashed prices to clear out $4 billion of unsold inventory. Continue reading →

Walmart Dances with Robots

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By David Render

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Pittsburgh-based Bossa Nova Robotics Inc. is sending its shelf-scanning robots out to 50 Walmart stores in California, Pennsylvania and Arkansas. The robots are being sent in a real-world use of technology to help Walmart keep its aisles stocked and ready for customers. The robots scan, passes information to the cloud, communicates that data to Walmart’s back-end system and relays that knowledge to store associates to keep store shelves stocked. Continue reading →

Adidas Automates to Make Shoes Faster

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By Barry Render

In a production hall as clean as a hospital, pea-size beads of white plastic pour into what looks like a minivan-size Adidas shoe box, complete with 3 white stripes down the side. That’s fitting, because in just a few seconds the machine heats and molds the stuff into soles of Adidas running shoes, with only one worker needed to wedge in pieces of plastic called stability bars. This is Adidas AG’s “Speedfactory,” where the shoemaker aims to prove it can profitably produce footwear in high-cost, developed economies, reports Businessweek (Oct. 9, 2017). Continue reading →