Google is expanding its cloud services, bringing Retail Search to its clients in an effort to help them provide the best experience to their own customers.
One of the biggest issues online shoppers face is finding the products they’re interested in. This can especially be apparent when comparing retail platform search capabilities with the Google Search features customers have become accustomed to.
Google Cloud is now bringing the power of its search to retail clients, with Retail Search, which the company unveiled in a blog.
This fully managed service is easily customizable, enabling organizations to craft shopper-focused search experiences. Our site search solution builds upon decades of Google’s experience and innovation in search indexing, retrieval, and ranking. Retailers can make product discovery even easier for shoppers, while optimizing for their business goals with advanced capabilities
Retail Search gives clients the ability to offer advanced query understanding, meaning customers will have better success finding what they’re looking for even with the broadest of search terms. The service also includes semantic search, which matches product attributes with relevant products.
Customers are already seeing the benefit of Retail Search.
“With limited customer signals and no historical data, descriptive long-tail searches are some of the most challenging queries to understand,” said Neelima Sharma, senior vice president, technology, e-commerce, marketing and merchandising at Lowe’s. “We have been partnering with Google Cloud to give our customers relevant results for long-tail searches and have seen an increase in click-through and search conversion and a drop in our ‘No Results Found’ rate since we launched.”
Google Cloud customers interested in learning more can visit Discovery Solutions for Retail or contact their Google Cloud field sales representative.
Walmart is permanently closing its last Portland, OR stores, citing a failure to meet financial expectations.
According to KPTV, Walmart plans to close its remaining two Portland locations in late March.
“The decision to close these stores was made after a careful review of their overall performance. We consider many factors, including current and projected financial performance, location, population, customer needs, and the proximity of other nearby stores when making these difficult decisions. After we decide to move forward, our focus is on our associates and their transition, which is the case here,” a Walmart spokesperson said.
While the company officially blamed “financial performance,” Walmart has been struggling with record-breaking theft. Walmart CEO Doug McMillion warned months ago that the company’s financial performance was being negatively impacted as a result.
It’s unclear if crime was a factor in the company’s decision.
Walmart is the Roman Empire of retail, says Burt Flickinger, Managing Director of SRG. Walmart announced an impressive earnings and revenue beat that told the story investors want to hear. Walmart is winning the retail wars, especially against arch-rival Amazon. “Like Hannibal and the Carthaginians, Amazon is starting to go the wrong way.” says Flickinger. “Big win for Walmart today and they will accelerate that in the next two to seven years.”
Burt Flickinger, Managing Director of SRG, a consumer industry business consulting firm, discussed how Walmart is winning the retail wars in an interview on Fox Business:
Walmart is the Roman Empire of Retail
This earnings report just reinforces its winning. Amazon is going sideways. This is a reenactment of the Punic Wars, Rome versus Carthage. Walmart is the Roman empire of retail. Like Hannibal and the Carthaginians, Amazon is starting to go the wrong way. Big win for Walmart today and they will accelerate that in the next two to seven years.
What’s doubly impressive, we talk to a lot of vendors and shoppers around the world, what the vendors are saying is Walmart is reinvesting all the PPA (price and promotional allowances) in lower prices. Lower prices normally mean lower margins and lower revenue. But in this case, the shopper is shifting to Walmart.
Walmart strategically saw all the land-based businesses like Payless and all the retailers from toys to sporting goods going out of business. They had great sales on land and not so good online. Walmart is winning both ways. Amazon, with all the trouble they’re having with Whole Foods, can’t capitalize. Walmart is running the table.
This Says it All for US Retail
This says it all for US retail. The well capitalized highly capable retailers are winning and if it’s a one man show, like Bezos running the show, you could be Alexander the Great, you could be Hannibal out of Carthage, but one general isn’t going to win a war. Recent (lower) retail sales numbers were a combination of a couple things. One is Jerome Powell scared the market, especially high to mid-end, didn’t spend as much. Also, consumers were a little bit scared toward the end of the year. Walmart, off price, low price, did very well, but full price full service struggled and that’s why the numbers were bad.
Walmart comp sales increased 4.2 percent, just like Steve Jobs and Apple with their great campaign Think Different with Muhammad Ali, Walmart is thinking different with Doug McMillon. It’s evolved from a company of family management to professional management. Walmart had 40 percent growth online.
Walmart Ads Are Really Connecting
Before, Walmart looked at advertising as an expense. But as Jerry Della Femina said, most of the Super Bowl ads were pretty pathetic. Walmart was one that stood out because it advertised Walmart online and Walmart in-store. The Walmart ads are really connecting with consumers, a United Nations of consumers.
They’re reaching everybody around the world with better prices and better service. Doug McMillon has invested in inventory and has invested in store staffing, first to raise wages with some push from the UFCW. They are hitting on all cylinders. The biggest problem now is they can’t handle all of the volume they are seeing on the weekends.
“Consumers love our product because it represents purchasing power but also budgeting for them,” says Sezzle co-founder and CEO Charlie Youakim. “They feel safe with it just like they do with the debit card. We’re driving a new wedge into payments between credit and debit. I call it the creditization of a debit card. I think it’s here to say because of that safety element that we give to the consumer.”
Sezzle is generally focused on the ecomm space, that’s where we do most of our work. We are present on over 44,000 merchant websites. The Buy Now, Pay Later industry, in general, is typically focused on ecommerce. So as that push back into ecomm occurs (potentially due to increases in COVID causing more people to shop from home) we generally benefit from that.
We compete in this space by really focusing on our stakeholders, focusing on the merchants, focusing on the consumers, and doing the right thing by both of them. We really stand on the high road for the consumer. We are the only player in the space that focuses on credit building which is totally unique. We love it, our consumers love it and our merchant partners love it. By focusing on their needs, these consumers’ needs, and doing right by them and right by the merchants, you have a chance to do a really strong job within the sector.
Sezzle Pushing Into the Enterprise
With SMB’s we’ve been growing like wildfire. It just continues for us. That’s how we have that big count of merchants and we expect that to continue. We’re doing a great job there and the merchants love us. It’s viral in that space. For us now the push is into enterprise and in Target, Bass Pro Shops, those are two great examples of that for us. The reason we’re doing that is that our consumer wants to shop with us everywhere so we have to be everywhere. That means we have to be with SMB, we’ve got to be with mid-market, and we’ve got to be with enterprise.
That will be the push for Sezzle to continue to push in those spaces. If you look at the enterprise players in those spaces, what they want is they want a brand that they can believe in. That’s where you have Sezzle and our halo around doing right by the consumer helping them build their credit score up and being a partnerships player. That’s what really sets us apart.
Sezzle: The Creditization Of a Debit Card
The average order value per customer has been relatively stable. We’re around $100 per order. The only reason it’s been tracking a bit up for us is we’ve been expanding our services. We started with a pure ‘pay in four’ for over six weeks interest-free and so that’s where we tracked right around $100. But as we add long-term into the mix we’ve been starting to track upwards. The order values on a 12-month order or 12-month installment plan, tend to track towards $1,000. We feel it’s probably going to stay stable, it’s just going to be a mixed shift that creates any change for Sezzle.
We see from our consumers that they love our product because it represents purchasing power but also budgeting for them. They feel safe with it just like they do with the debit card. We’re driving a new wedge into payments between credit and debit. I call it the creditization of a debit card. I think it’s here to say because of that safety element that we give to the consumer.
Sezzle Is the Creditization Of a Debit Card, Says CEO Charlie Youakim
“Our ads on Reddit have gotten a lot of traction and puts a big smile on people’s faces,” says 1-800 Flowers CEO Chris McCann. “That’s what we’re trying to do is just make sure we’re relevant and create that cognitive speed bump when people think about our company. They see something different and I’m thrilled with the creative team for coming up with something like that.”
Reddit Ad That Went Viral for 1-800-Flowers.com
As usual, some opinionated Redditers expressed their thoughts on the ads:
1-800 Flowers CEO discusses the company’s growth that was accelerated by the pandemic:
Ecommerce Growth Accelerated During Pandemic
What we’ve seen is an acceleration of growth in our company that began back in 2018 and really then accelerated even further in 2020 with the pandemic. It’s driven by the need for us as people to connect and express ourselves. As a company whose vision is to inspire more human expression, connection, and celebration, and as an ecommerce leader, we’re well-positioned in the trends that we see coming out of this pandemic. We think these trends are sustainable going forward.
We started out as one flower shop many years ago. What we’ve done is created this e-commerce platform for growth, a platform for expression, connection, and celebration. It starts with this all-star family of brands that we have led by Harry & David, 1-800-Flowers, Cheryl’s Cookies, Shari’s Berries, and our recent acquisition just this past August of Personalization Mall. You see us now as a company in the expression and connection business with a leadership position in floral, a leadership position in gourmet food gifting, and certainly now leadership and position in expressions and personalized items which is a fast-growing market.
You’ll continue to continue to see us grow by organic product development of products that help customers express and connect. And as we’ve done through acquisition, adding to that platform and leveraging that platform that we’ve built.
Need To Express and Connect Is a Lasting Trend
Hopefully, the vaccines accelerate and we turn to some sense of normalcy sooner rather than later. As we look at our business, the momentum we saw began in 2018 and 2019 and then accelerated with the pandemic. We’ve been on a good momentum growth even before the pandemic and we really see ourselves now as a bigger stronger company than we were prior to it. We’ve acquired Personalization Mall just this past August and by putting it on our platform and leveraging our digital marketing expertise we accelerated the growth of that company. It grew by 50 percent this last quarter.
A year ago August we acquired Shari’s Berries and took a business that was stagnant and losing money to now one that’s got a nice growth rate and is generating a nice contribution margin as well. If we just keep our focus on what the consumer is looking for to help express and connect then we’ll be continuing to see double-digit growth for some time to come. That trend that we’ve all learned from being isolated, our need to express and connect is a lasting trend coming out of this pandemic along with the shift from offline to online.
1-800 Flowers Ecommerce Growth Accelerated During Pandemic
Google is trying to help the e-commerce industry address a $300 billion abandonment issue with Google Cloud Retail Search.
According to Inc. search abandonment — where a user searches for a product but doesn’t click through to the results — costs the e-commerce industry a whopping $300 billion a year. Google is working to address that with its new tool, which has been in private preview, but is now available to all.
“Search abandonment is a costly industry-wide issue, but for startup founders and small business owners, it can be devastating,” Carrie Tharp, Google Cloud’s vice president of retail and consumer, told Inc. “With Retail Search, we’re able to help convert site traffic to sales and keep startups and small businesses from leaving money on the table.”
The tool brings the power of Google Search to a company’s own sites.
Retailers now have the ability to provide Google-quality search and recommendations on their own digital properties, helping to increase conversions and reduce search abandonment.
Cloud Retail Search should help Google as it continues to fight for cloud market share against its larger rivals, AWS and Microsoft Azure.
“We’re forecasting that ecommerce spending this year will be somewhere between $850 billion and $930 billion,” says John Copeland, Vice President of Marketing Science and Customer Insights at Adobe. This would be a 14 percent increase over last year. That would be more typical of what we see year over year in the ecommerce channel.”
John Copeland of Adobe, predicts that ecommerce spending could be $930 billion, or just under $1 trillion, in 2021:
COVID was a catalyst to the ecommerce channel last year. What we saw when you look at the full calendar year of 2020 was $813 billion dollars in ecommerce spending, 42 percent growth over 2019. That’s like combining two years’ worth of growth into a single year. Consumers have really embraced the online channel to meet their needs during these challenging times.
We’re all kind of wondering what (the vaccine rollout) is going to do in terms of ecommerce. We’re forecasting this year somewhere between $850 billion, only a 5 percent over last year, and up to $930 billion, which would be a 14 percent increase over last year. The 5 percent increase would be if everybody gets vaccinated and rushes out and we see kind of a slowdown. The $930 billion, 14 percent increase, would be more typical of what we see year over year in the ecommerce channel.
Buy Now Pay Later Up 215 Percent Over Last Year
Buy Now Pay Later is very much good for retailers. In fact, what we’ve seen in February this year relative to February 2020, which is kind of on the cusp of the pandemic, is a 215 percent increase year over year in buy now pay later orders. In terms of retailers, it comes along with larger average order values. What we’re seeing is 18 percent larger orders when customers are using that service. Unlike layaway, with buy now pay later you actually get the goods upfront, you don’t have to wait until the payment’s done.
Another trend is Buy Online, Pick Up In-Store, also known as BOPUS. In February of this year, we’re already seeing it growing 67 percent year on year. It’s always been huge and growing during the holiday season but now people are clearly working it in as part of their fulfillment options. Picking up in the store gives consumers the ability to schedule it according to their availability and knowing that stock will be there for them when they want to pick it up.
Ecommerce Nearing $1 Trillion, Says John Copeland of Adobe
Amazon may dominate e-commerce, but reports show it now plans to take on traditional retail with its own debarment-style stores.
Department stores were once a staple of American life and the go-to place to shop for everything from clothes to household items. In recent years, however, e-commerce has taken a toll on the industry, with many going into bankruptcy or making major changes to how they do business.
Now Amazon, arguably one of the biggest factors in the demise of the industry, is now preparing to open its own department-style retail stores in California and Ohio, according to The Wall Street Journal.Amazon already has some retail locations, such as bookstores and the Whole Foods chain it purchased 2017. The company also has its 4-star stores, although those primarily sell gadgets.
According to WSJ, Amazon’s new retail stores will be roughly 30,000 square feet, quite a bit smaller than a traditional department store, which usually comes in around 100,000. Even so, the new stores will be much larger than the company’s other retail efforts and will offer the full range of products from top brands, much like a traditional department store.
While nothing is a sure bet, Amazon’s chances of success are pretty good. Having its own stores would give users the ability to try on clothes before buying them, eliminating one of the more frustrating aspects of online shopping.
Microsoft has announced a new vertical cloud, Microsoft Cloud for Retail, aiming to be an end-to-end retail solution.
Microsoft Azure has been gaining ground in the cloud market, with a recent report showing it one of the biggest winners during the current digital transformation. Microsoft Azure is increasingly seen as a viable alternative to AWS, especially among retailers who are leery of relying on a cloud offering from their biggest rival.
Microsoft is capitalizing on this by offering a vertical cloud solution tailored to the specific needs of the retail market.
The unmatched performance of Microsoft Azure allows our customers to intelligently manage secure workloads across multiple sites and domains, scale those workloads to process millions of requests per second, and improve the logistics to manage each order. Azure Data and AI services help retailers respond to market forces, improve decision-making, and put customers first by breaking down their data silos to manage, merge, shape, and analyze the data and, as a result, uncover actionable insights.
With Azure, retailers get the best of at-scale cloud, data, and AI workloads including industry data models that enable data management, governance, and domain excellence in one cloud platform from a provider that does not compete with them. As a result, retailers can build better digital feedback loops—the connections between their customers, their people, their stores, their data, and the insights at the heart of each—on a platform from a trusted partner.
Microsoft’s announcement does not include pricing. The company is confident, however, that its latest vertical cloud will help the retail industry deal with the challenges and opportunities it is currently facing.
“Our digital performance was up 50 percent,” says Target CEO Brian Cornell. “As we gain greater clarity around the consumer, the economy, the state of the vaccine, we feel that the consumer continues to respond to our in-store experience and the ease and convenience of shopping with some of our same-day services like pickup, drive-up, and ship. Same-day fulfillment services now represent over half of our digital channel.”
Brian Cornell, CEO of Target, discusses their massive Q1 results in an interview on CNBC:
Digital Performance Up 50 Percent
We’ve had a string of really solid results going back to 2017 but this quarter may be one of the highlights. Our team executed throughout the quarter. We had a great performance from our store teams with a store comp of 18%. Our digital performance was up 50%. It was really a team effort. We had great supply chain support with our merchants and marketers all coming together to support the results which speak for themselves.
We are benefitting from investments we’ve been making for years now. Our investment in our store experience, our curated Home Brand and national brand mix, and then the fulfillment services that we offer. That combined with the investment in our team, I think we are seeing continued strength. We feel really good sitting here right now about our outlook, not just for the second quarter but for the full year.
We’ve Connected With The Consumer
As we gain greater clarity around the consumer, the economy, the state of the vaccine, we feel that the consumer continues to respond to our in-store experience and the ease and convenience of shopping with some of our same-day services like pickup, drive-up, and ship. They really connect with our curation of Great Home Brand, national brands, and the service our team provides each and every day.
We are feeling very confident about our position today. I look at the proof point from Q1, we picked up another billion dollars in market share on top of the $9 billion of share last year. That’s just a sign that we’ve connected with the consumer, we’re building relevance, and we’re providing what they need and what they want throughout the year.
Newness Is A Huge Trend In Our Business
When you see the combination of stores comping up at 18%, which to me is just a highlight number, and categories like apparel growing again by over 60%, that combination of store traffic and category mix really benefited us throughout the quarter. We are seeing a resilient consumer. They’re clearly shopping our stores and when they’re there they are attracted to anything that’s new.
Newness has certainly been a trend throughout our business in the first quarter and I think that’s going to continue. That great combination of store traffic and store comps and the continued movement of same-day fulfillment services which now represent over half of our digital channel. We really like that transaction. It looks and feels more like a store transaction which from a profitability standpoint certainly is beneficial for us.
Target CEO Brian Cornell Says Digital Performance Up 50%
Amazon has scored a big win in Alabama, as workers voted not to unionize in the biggest unionization push the company has seen in the US.
Workers at the company’s Bessemer, Alabama warehouse began the process of setting up a union vote earlier this year. Amazon immediately began a full-court press initiative to discourage those efforts, including go so far as to put propaganda in bathroom stalls.
It appears the company’s efforts were successful, as NPR is reporting the employees have voted not to unionize. The union is filing a legal challenge to the results, and wants a hearing with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The union wants the NLRB “to determine if the results of the election should be set aside because conduct by the employer created an atmosphere of confusion, coercion and/or fear of reprisals and thus interfered with the employees’ freedom of choice.”
In addition to the bathroom propaganda, Amazon bombarded workers with anti-union text messages and mandatory “information sessions.” A mailbox that was supposed to provide a “convenient, safe and private” place to vote was placed inside an Amazon tent, a move many felt was further intimidation. Similarly, the company asked the county to shorten the timing of the traffic light outside the warehouse. Pro-union organizers believed it was to prevent them from being able to talk to workers sitting in traffic, while Amazon says it was standard practice during holiday and peak season.
Whatever the case, it appears Amazon’s fight over unionization is far from over. Given the company’s aggressive tactics, tactics that caused its own investors to tell it to back down, the company may have won this battle at the cost of the war.
“It should not be called a credit card for sure in part because it’s sort of the anti-credit card,” says Affirm co-founder and CEO Max Levchin. “I don’t need to be provocative but the idea of credit cards fundamentally is to get you to spend, get into debt, and stay in debt. Literally, every single one of these things is the exact opposite for Affirm’s card.”
Max Levchin, CEO of Affirm, describes the company’s debit card as the anti-credit card:
Affirm’s Debit Card Is The Anti-Credit Card
It should not be called a credit card for sure in part because it’s sort of the anti-credit card. I don’t need to be provocative but the idea of credit cards fundamentally is to get you to spend, get into debt, and stay in debt. You will not know when you’re done paying off any specific purchase. You’re not really sure exactly how much you’re gonna pay. You should actually expect late fees if you miss a payment.
Literally, every single one of these things is the exact opposite for Affirm’s card. You know exactly what you’re going to pay. You know exactly what the schedule of repayment is and there’ll be no late fees under any circumstances. It’s sort of the exact opposite in many ways. It does serve the same purpose. You get to pay for things right now or over time.
Card Form Factor Is Extraordinarily Elegant
I don’t really know how long the card as a form factor will be with us, but I do think it’s extraordinarily elegant. The majority of the offline world certainly in the US still transacts with plastic and chips these days so I think it’s important to meet the customer where they are. I do know that our user base is primarily millennials and Gen Z’s. They love their debit cards they love to transact with them offline.
The purpose of this product was to bring by functionality that they have really loved online and really offline as well with us but have never had in a card. Particularly, a card that is embedded inside their daily everyday spend tool. The debit card form factor is a metaphor for everyday spend and that’s what we’re trying to get to.
What I Care About Is The Return Of The Country
The primary signal that I care about is the return of the country. We’re all kind of holding our breath a little bit to see when vaccines are coming. There are a bunch of reopenings and, knock on wood, everything sort of starts to come back to a little bit more normal. There’s just an incredible amount of opportunity to grow with this product that we have. It’s seen so much adoption in areas like travel, which has been effectively zero growth for the last several quarters because of the pandemic.
There are lots of interesting new challenges as the country reopens. The dominant thread is that there is that reopening creates a lot more opportunity for this product. We have proven that this product is what our customer wants and needs. This debit card will absolutely meet them where they are as they hopefully come out of their houses and go into restaurants and coffee shops and start traveling and buy tickets.
Affirm’s Debit Card Is The Anti-Credit Card, Says CEO Max Levchin
“We are arming the rebels… the entrepreneurs, the small business owners, the independent brands, and the rebels are winning,” says Shopify President Harley Finkelstein. “It feels like the retail world that would have existed in 2030 was pulled back to 2020. We have seen this massive catalyst to an acceleration in digitalization in commerce and retail. We are writing the future of commerce and entrepreneurs are really the heroes of the Shopify story.”
Shopify President Harley Finkelstein says the rebels―the entrepreneurs and the small business owners―are the heroes of the Shopify story… and the rebels are winning:
We Are Arming The Rebels
There’s a lot to be optimistic about even in the second half of 2021. It feels like the retail world that would have existed in 2030 was pulled back to 2020. We certainly have seen this massive catalyst to an acceleration in digitalization in commerce and retail. But actually, we are writing the future of commerce and entrepreneurs are really the heroes of the Shopify story. We are arming the rebels… the entrepreneurs, the small business owners, the independent brands, and the rebels are winning.
Consumers have been voting with their wallets for the last ten months or so to buy from independent brands wherever possible. In 2020, 47 million consumers purchased from a Shopify merchant. That’s up 52 from 2019. Our merchant’s performance helped expand Shopify’s lead on an aggregated basis to be the second-largest e-commerce retailer in the U.S. Shopify is now about nine percent of all US ecom. If you think about it, Shopify is a proxy for independent retail and for direct-to-consumer retail.
Shop Pay Launches Accelerated Checkout
We only succeed when our merchants do. This has led to us having more than 1.7 million merchants on Shopify. This includes people from first-time entrepreneurs making their first sale every 28 seconds to the likes of O’Neill and Hallmark and Herman Miller and Purina. Diageo, who also just launched in Shopify and in Q4 alone revenue nearly doubled year over year to $978 million. There’s a lot to be optimistic about. Actually, the future of retail and commerce we think is going to look a lot more like these independent brands than these sort of department stores that existed in the past.
Shop Pay is our accelerated checkout. We just announced it last week. We know that it not only helps merchants get more sales, it helps buyers convert better and much faster. Now we think that providing it to the Instagram and Facebook platforms means that our merchants can not only access new customers on those platforms, and frankly anywhere where customers are, but now can transact in a more efficient way. Shopify is becoming far more than an e-commerce provider.
Future of Retail Is Wherever Consumers Are
We are trying to build the world’s first retail operating system, which makes it as easy as possible and where the cost of failure is as low as possible, so more people can participate in entrepreneurship. We think the future retail is not online or offline or anywhere, in particular, it’s wherever consumers are. That’s what we’re trying to build. Seeing Shop Pay move into Facebook and Instagram is a really great way to demonstrate where the future of retail is happening.
We are trying to get to a point where we completely democratize entrepreneurship. We use a 100-year perspective and we want to build a 100-year company. We’re about 15 years into our journey right now and we have 85 years left to go. In the long run, we’re happy where Shopify is but frankly, on the topic of more participation in the equity markets, we think that is also entrepreneurial and we think that’s also democratizing.
Salvage crews have freed the container ship Ever Given from the shore, reopening the Suez Canal after it was blocked for nearly a week.
The Ever Given ran aground in the Suez Canal Tuesday, March 23. The ship is one of the biggest container vessels in the world, coming in at over 1,300 feet long and nearly 192 feet wide. The ship can carry over 20,000 containers.
Once the ship ran aground, 372 ships were were unable to pass, according to Lloyd’s List, resulting in a significant impact to the global economy. Roughly 12% of maritime trade passes through the canal, equaling an estimated $9 billion in goods every day.
Given the amount of trade and goods passing through the canal, experts said the incident would have ripple effects throughout the economy for months. Some even said it could impact virtually everything sold in stores.
It’s still unclear if the Ever Given will be able to resume its scheduled deliveries. When the ship was stuck, it had pressure on its bow and stern, leaving the middle section to sag. Since ships weren’t designed to take that kind of pressure, there was concern the hull would crack. Early inspections indicated that didn’t happen, but the ship still has to pass a final inspection now that it’s free.
Molson Coors has announced in a regulatory filing that it halted its brewery operations as a result of a cyberattack — just when things were starting to look up.
Cyberattacks have become a common occurrence across industries, with new ones reported almost daily. Unfortunately, the threat has reached a new low, impacting the nation’s beer supply.
In a regulatory filing, the company says it suffered an attack on March 11, and is working around the clock to get its systems running again.
Although the Company is actively managing this cybersecurity incident, it has caused and may continue to cause a delay or disruption to parts of the Company’s business, including its brewery operations, production, and shipments.
Molson Coors doesn’t provide a timeline when operations will be up and running, but its predicament emphasizes that no companies are safe from cybersecurity threats.
Amazon is grappling with an entire industry aimed at providing fake reviews and gaming the system, according to new research.
Which? is a UK-based company that reviews products and services and helps consumers make educated choices. The company has investigated the state of Amazon reviews and found that fake reviews are being sold in bulk.
Customers rely on Amazon reviews to make decisions about their purchases. Even when customers ultimately end up purchasing elsewhere, Amazon product reviews often still impact customers’ decisions. Unfortunately, many of those reviews may be fake, according to Which?.
“More people are shopping online than ever before due to the coronavirus crisis – yet our latest research shows that Amazon is facing an uphill struggle against a relentless and widespread fake reviews industry geared towards misleading consumers,” Natalie Hitchins, Head of Home Products and Services at Which?, said.
Some companies charge as little as £5 per review, while others charge more, up to £8,000 for 1,000 reviews. Many of the companies provided incentives and rewards programs, along with guidelines to help their armies of reviews avoid detection by Amazon.
All the sites Which? signed up to gave advice for how to write reviews so as not to arouse Amazon’s suspicion, and in many cases had criteria for reviewers to meet to qualify for rewards. These included leaving reviews that were at least two sentences long, posting an accompanying image or video and not posting reviews until at least four days after receiving a product. Some sites also had no return policies – as returned products are monitored by Amazon and high return rates can affect the chance of an Amazon’s Choice endorsement.
Which? is calling on regulators to take action against these kind of schemes, in the interest of protecting customers that rely on such reviews to make informed decisions. The company is also calling on tech firms, such as Google and Facebook, to crack down on these companies, as many of them use search and social media platforms to gain reviewers.
“The regulator must crack down on bad actors and hold sites to account if they fail to keep their users safe. If it is unable to do so, the government must urgently strengthen online consumer protections,” Hitchins added.
“Amazon, and other online platforms, must do more to proactively prevent fake reviews infiltrating their sites so that consumers can trust the integrity of their reviews.”
It remains to be seen what, if any, action will be taken. in the meantime, savvy purchasers would do well to take Amazon’s reviews with a grain of salt.
Uber is acquiring alcohol delivery startup Drizly, in a deal worth $1.1 billion.
Drizly is the nation’s leading alcohol delivery service, operating in over 1,400 cities around the country. The company’s reach is an impressive accomplishment given the patchwork of alcohol laws and regulations among various states.
Uber sees an opportunity to round out its food delivery service, offering the full dining experience in-home.
“Wherever you want to go and whatever you need to get, our goal at Uber is to make people’s lives a little bit easier. That’s why we’ve been branching into new categories like groceries, prescriptions and, now, alcohol. Cory and his amazing team have built Drizly into an incredible success story, profitably growing gross bookings more than 300 percent year-over-year. By bringing Drizly into the Uber family, we can accelerate that trajectory by exposing Drizly to the Uber audience and expanding its geographic presence into our global footprint in the years ahead,” said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.
“Drizly has spent the last 8 years building the infrastructure, technology, and partnerships to bring the consumer a shopping experience they deserve. It’s a proud day for the Drizly team as we recognize what we’ve accomplished to date but also with the humility that much remains to be done to fulfill our vision. With this in mind, we are thrilled to join a world-class Uber team whose platform will accelerate Drizly on its mission to be there when it matters—committed to life’s moments and the people who create them,” said Drizly co-founder and CEO Cory Rellas.
The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2021.
It’s often difficult to comprehend how to get ahead of the competition – let alone adapt – when your business’ industry is constantly changing. Saying this, utilizing Enterprise AI can boost your business’ performance, quality, and position within the industry. However, if considering AI implementation, you must be serious from the beginning. Fewer than 1 in 3 businesses who pilot AI programs actually proceed to launching the technology; however, this is due to many reasons. Planning for the long-term and simply jumping in despite your lack of clarity can push your enterprise ahead of the game. It just takes a little planning.
If you believe AI isn’t right for your business, it’s time to reconsider. The majority of the top sectors consider AI pivotal to their achievements- including 70% of financial and insurance companies, 65% of retailers and technologists, and 55% of educators and manufacturers. Saying this, AI has been found to be professionally universal, applicable across many sectors: manufacturing, transportation, and even the supply chain and logistics. There are many different ways to utilize AI, making it an important part of technological advancement in any field.
More specifically, AI can enhance a business leader’s decision-making capabilities, help reduce waste, improve product quality, cement a business into their ever-changing market, lower energy costs, and meet rising demands. For example, AI can increase the time it takes for business leaders to come to conclusions on complicated decisions, while also strengthening the decision they make. AI can also increase production results, decrease overhead costs, and eliminate deadhead trips, wasted energy, excess expedites and inventory, and more. With this, 84% of the world’s business leaders consider AI to give them an advantage against their competition, strengthening the power of their business.
Moreover, many successful executives and business leaders have commented on their experiences with Enterprise AI. Paul Daughtery, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer says, “The playing field is poised to become a lot more competitive, and businesses that don’t deploy AI and data to help them innovate in everything they do will be at a disadvantage.”
In similar advice, Lee Blackstone (Founder of Blackstone+Cullen) noted, “You need to understand what you really need to automate and how it’s going to benefit you. How is AI going to change your business so that you can respond faster than your competitors?” Hence the reason getting started is the most important step in implementation.
No matter the industry, there’s a way to incorporate AI into your five-year strategy. It can be used to decrease production costs, reduce waste in shipping, make predictions about changing markets, and more. It can help many industries reduce energy costs and make better predictions about consumer behavior. It can take data and extrapolate the next steps in actionable ways that businesses can act upon.
Data is more important than ever, and Enterprise AI can enhance the way your business’ data is processed. The steps to incorporating and expanding AI into your business are simple. Read more information on Enterprise AI below.
“When people look at what’s happening with Amazon trying to get into their businesses, the need to transform is also front and center for every c-level executive,” says Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen. “Given that Adobe’s been through our own transformation and has software they want to hear from us and they want to experience that same benefit that we have been able to see.”
When we talk about helping businesses transform we do every aspect of it. We help them create that experience and help them understand how to attract customers. That last mile of transacting with customers is so critical. Adobe was a company that actually innovated tremendously but we had a two-tier distribution channel. We have two businesses. We have the creative business and we have the enterprise business. If you look at what we’ve been able to accomplish in the long run and the two tailwinds that we have, we continue to be really optimistic about Adobe’s prospects.
When we completely moved to the cloud we recognized that every other company would go through what we did. Namely, how do you engage with your customers digitally? Do you understand how to acquire them and how do they use your software? I think sharing our learnings with other people gives us incredible credibility in the enterprise and we learn from these customers.
Creating a Real-Time Customer Profile is So Critical
In enterprise software, this third generation, which is all about customer experience management, I think it’s the companies who recognize that you have to partner with an entire ecosystem to create this real-time customer profile that’s absolutely so critical. That’s why our partnerships, whether they be with ServiceNow or Microsoft or the other cloud kings is so critical in enabling our customers to completely transform themselves.
What we have been able to do is create this real-time customer profile. People are really within an enterprise saying how do I create native applications? ServiceNow is clearly the leader in IT Service Management. What John (Donahoe) has done is truly special. I think partnering with them to enable IT professionals within an enterprise to use Adobe’s Customer Experience Management with ServiceNow’s IT Service Management, that was a natural.
The Need to Transform is Front and Center for Every C-Level Executive
Design and creativity have never been more important. Everything has a screen. So people are creating content, whether that’s a car, whether that’s a retail experience, whether it’s a basketball stadium. Adobe is the content provider that enables all of these screens to be delivered with incredible content. Given design is more important and given mobile devices are in every single place, that’s a tremendous tailwind.
Secondly, when people look at what’s happening with Amazon trying to get into their businesses, the need to transform is also front and center for every c-level executive. Given that Adobe’s been through our own transformation and has software they want to hear from us and they want to experience that same benefit that we have been able to see.
I’ve talked about how video is explosive. II think what Disney is doing both with their own service as well as with more control of Hulu is really saying people are consuming more and more content digitally. So providing the analytics for that, providing the digital rights management for that, the right ability to audience segment in terms of who you are attracting, a lot of that is what Adobe powers. This is not just for Disney but for frankly all the major media companies in the world.
Adobe Powering Big CPG Companies Through a Digital Transformation
The big CPG companies are going through the following question. They have sometimes hundreds of millions or billions of people using their products and they just don’t necessarily know who they are. Giving them that insight into how they create this incredible customer database, how they understand usage patterns, and how they understand what these people want. If we can provide that insight to companies then all the CPG companies can recognize that this direct relationship will enable them to innovate at a faster pace.
For example, what Unilever is trying to do is really say we have this tremendous distribution network but what they’ve tried to do even with Dollar Shave Club is really say, “How do we create an incredible customer database?” But the same thing is happening across Colgate or Procter & Gamble. We are partnering very heavily with Unilever as they embark on this digital transformation and understanding customer patterns and customer sentiments across the world.
The Need to Transform is Front and Center for Every C-Level Executive, Says Adobe CEO
Apple held its much-anticipated “By Invitation Only” event today, with Tim Cook promising a “huge” morning of news and updates. Over the course of two hours, Apple delivered on the promise with updates to both hardware and software.
Apple Arcade
Apple Arcade was first out of the gate, with one of Apple highlighting the soon-to-be-released gaming platform. Apple has partnered with some of the world’s best game developers to deliver over 100 exclusive games on launch day, something no gaming service has ever done.
Rather than paying for each game individually, a subscription service will provide access to all the games in the new Arcade tab of the App Store. Users will also be able to access game guides and sneak peeks.
Unlimited access will cost $4.99 per month, with a one-month free trial, and will be available September 19 in over 150 countries.
Apple Arcade
Apple TV+
It’s no secret Apple has been working on disrupting the television market with their upcoming Apple TV+ service. Mr. Cook said Apple’s ‘mission is to bring the best original stories from the most creative minds in film and television.’
Trailers for Apple’s first three series in production have been viewed over 100 million times, with The Morning Show trailer being one of the most viewed trailers of all time.
Apple took the opportunity to introduce their latest show, See, starring Jason Momoa. The series is set hundreds of years in the future when virtually all of humanity has lost its sight. Apple enlisted the help of blind and low-sight cast, crew and consultants to help set an authentic tone for the series. If the audience’s reaction was any indication, Apple may well have another hit on their hands.
The platform’s first shows will be available on November 1 in over 100 countries, for $4.99 per month for a family subscription. In addition, anyone purchasing a Mac, iPhone, iPad or Apple TV will receive the first year for free.
Apple TV+
iPad
Switching gears to the iPad, Mr. Cook said Apple’s original goal for the iPad was to ‘set out to design something truly unique, something you could take with you, transforming how we work, live and play.’ After highlighting the existing iPad models, he turned the stage over to Apple Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller.
Mr. Schiller said the 9.7-inch iPad continues to be the most popular model, with 60% of first-time buyers opting for it. With the 7th generation of the
product, it was time for Apple to improve it with modern features and abilities.
The 7th generation iPad moves to the A10 Fusion chip, making it up to 2X faster than the current top-selling PC. The iPad moves to a 10.2-inch form factor, giving users slightly more screen real estate. The new model includes the Smart Connector found on the Pro models, allowing it to be paired with the Smart Keyboard, as well as support for the Apple Pencil.
Mr. Schiller briefly touched on some of the added functionality the upcoming iPadOS will bring, including improved multitasking, multiple app instances, more powerful Slide Over, SD card support and more.
The new iPad features an enclosure made from 100% recycled aluminum and starts at $329, or $299 for education customers.
iPad
Apple Watch
Before announcing updates to the Apple Watch, Mr. Cook introduced a video where several existing users described how the Apple Watch had saved their life or had a profound impact on their overall quality of life.
The announced Apple Watch Series 5 promises to build on that reputation with a number of new features. The biggest of these is an always-on display that no longer requires a wrist raise or tap to see the time or complications. Another big addition is a compass, similar to that on the iPhone.
Apple is also expanding the capabilities of the Apple Watch with various studies designed to monitor a user’s health and use that data to improve the overall experience. Initial studies include the Apple Hearing, Heart & Movement and Women’s Health Studies. Via the Apple Research app, users will be able to opt-in and control exactly what data is shared.
Despite the new features, the Series 5 maintains the same all-day, 18-hour battery life and will retail for $399 for the GPS model and $499 for cellular.
Apple Watch
iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max
The event’s last act was reserved for the unveiling of the new iPhone. The Apple rumor mill has been in overdrive in the months leading up to this event, but Apple still managed to spring a few surprises.
The new iPhone is split into three models: the base iPhone 11, the iPhone 11 Pro and the biggest iPhone 11 Pro Max. Hopefully, Apple keeps this simple naming scheme for the iPhone 12, 13 and beyond, as it’s much easier and more logical than the X, XS, XR, and XS Max.
The iPhone 11 is clearly a replacement for the XR as Apple’s entry-level phone. Based on the specs and features, however, it’s a safe bet the base 11 will likely be the most popular model, much as the XR currently is.
The 11 sports the toughest glass on a smartphone for both the front and back, with aluminum making up the rest of the enclosure. It’s available in black, white, red, purple, yellow and green and features a 6.1-inch Liquid Retina HD LCD display.
The dual-camera system was front-and-center among the new phone’s features, with 12 megapixels Wide and Ultra-Wide lens. The Phone is powered by the newest A-series chip, the A13 Bionic, providing the fastest CPU and GPU performance on a smartphone. The iPhone 11 will have an hour longer battery life than the current champion, the XR.
The iPhone Pro and Pro Max models build on the same features as the 11, but with a Pro twist. The aluminum is upgraded to surgical-grade stainless steel available in midnight green, space gray, silver, and gold.
The camera adds a third lens for telephoto zoom and the display is a Super Retina XDR OLED in either 5.8 or 6.5-inch. Water-resistance is rated at a full four meters for up to 30 minutes, up from the two-meter rating of the base 11. Apple promises up to four more hours of battery with the 11 Pro and five hours more with the Pro Max. All versions of the iPhone 11 include improved sound, featuring Dolby Atmos.
Apple’s presentation included examples of professional photographers’ work with the iPhone, as well as the creators of FiLMiC Pro highlighting some of the game-changing filmmaking capabilities of the Pro and Pro Max’s camera system.
The iPhone 11 starts at $699, while the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max start at $999 and $1099 respectively. Apple is also continuing to sell the iPhone 8 for $449 and the XR for $599.
iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max
Wrapping Up
Apple promised a “huge” morning of announcements and, without a doubt, they delivered. Apple Arcade and Apple TV+ demonstrate Apple’s commitment to expanding their services, while the 7th generation iPad, Series 5 Apple Watch and iPhone 11 show they still have plenty to offer in the hard-ware department.
Apple “By Invitation Only” Event – September 10, 2019
Despite Jeff Bezos’ recent admission that Amazon will eventually fail, the company plans to stave off its demise by investing in as many markets as possible. Aside from being the world’s largest eCommerce enterprise, Amazon also has its tentacles in sectors like on-demand cloud computing, pharmaceuticals, and even more recently, banking. Now it wants to venture into sports broadcasting. The retail giant has reportedly filed a bid to acquire the 22 sports television networks that Disney is offloading. The move is seen as Amazon’s attempt to further develop its live video offerings.
CNBC reported several companies have placed bids for those sports networks, which were once under 21st Century Fox. Aside from Amazon, Apollo Global Management, the Sinclair Broadcast Group, KKR, Tegna, and The Blackstone Group also made offers.
Amazon has reportedly bid to buy 22 regional Fox Sports Networks from Disney. Why would they do so? Here’s a deep dive look at what the future of sports broadcasting & sports media business could resemble and what Amazon may be thinking: https://t.co/ntn25uetrh
Surprisingly, New Fox was not among the first-round bidders. The company was founded after Disney shelled out $71.3 billion to acquire 21st Century Fox’s assets this year. The sports networks were initially among the assets Disney paid for. These assets included the YES Network, which shows games of the New York Yankees, as well as other channels that broadcast regional games from different professional leagues like the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, and Major League Baseball.
According to reports, the House of Mouse allegedly wanted to partner these networks with their just launched ESPN+. However, the Justice Department ruling required the company to sell the networks before the Fox deal could be completed to avoid antitrust issues.
New Fox was a strong contender to buy back the channels. Lachlan Murdoch, Fox’s CEO, had previously confirmed that he was keen on getting back the networks, which made the company’s absence in the bidding glaringly conspicuous. However, Fox might submit a bid in the next round, which is scheduled before the end of the year.
Media companies will be keeping a close eye on Amazon though. The prospect of anadditional 22 networks in Amazon’s Prime Video service will boost its live-streaming power and could potentially change the television landscape.
Amazon has been steadily pushing into live sports broadcasting, signaling yet another way the tech industry could shake up the traditional media landscape https://t.co/Mqu2XSmN32pic.twitter.com/MJwJc4vkrz
More importantly, sports programming still has a strong viewership and brings in massive revenue. In fact, it generates the most revenue for the $70 billion television ad industry. The popularity of live sports also means that having major sports leagues like the MLB and NBA on the roster will enhance the value of the Amazon Prime Video service and could compel more people to subscribe.
Jeff Bezos’ company hasn’t exactly been hiding its interest in incorporating live sports in its streaming offer. Amazon has already closed deals to broadcast Thursday Night Football and 20 of the United Kingdom’s Premier League soccer matches in 2019.
If Amazon does go into sports broadcasting, tech companies like Apple, Facebook, and Google might also make a move on sporting rights just to remain competitive.
Acquiring Disney’s sports channels also provides a number of opportunities for Amazon. The eCommerce giant can phase out these cable networks and offer the live games either exclusively to Prime subscribers or as an add-on to the Amazon Channel. It also gives Amazon a larger advertising playground. Moreover, they will have a wider market to showcase all their products and services.
Amazon has not made any official comments regarding its foray into sports broadcasting. But it’s guaranteed that the traditional media companies and Amazon Prime subscribers will be watching closely to see if the company will emerge victorious.
