The technology I like best in retail can be summed up by thinking about the 3 Es:

What enables, expedites, and/or elevates the store experience for tasks a customer doesn’t  need a human to perform?

Last month at Verizon, we built an in-store AR use case and rolled it out to thousands of our stores. The activation was tied into Verizon’s holiday campaign and encouraged deeper engagement in the store by prompting customers to search for and “unwrap” exclusive promotional offers as they browsed.

Observations and analysis about Amazon‘s London pop-up from retail consultant Rebecca Smith and me.

Earlier this month, I visited Amazon Go and Starbucks Roastery. They’re at opposite ends of the technology/human spectrum.

Someone visiting town for the holidays asked me what retail to see while in New York. I could go on and on (and on) but here's what came to mind first. Please comment or tweet and tell me what you'd add! 

By now, we know Alibaba's 11.11 Global Shopping Festival broke all sales records this year. But there are two lesser-discussed parts of 11.11 that are reflective of Alibaba's broader strategy and the company's - and China's - growing influence on global brands.

I wrote this as a guest blog post for Reachify, a business intelligence platform for the buyers and sellers of software. Much of it also is relevant for vendors selling physical goods, not just technology products. It's published on their blog now.

Among the many retailers who will "competitive shop" Amazon Books, I think most will say they don’t want their stores to look or feel like Amazon. But, taken more granularly, some of Amazon's individual tactics can provide inspiration.

A few weeks ago, I announced the pre-launch of my new retail business, Box The Party. As the landing page says, I want to help people eliminate Pinterest party fails and create Instagrammable everyday celebrations at home. Despite the chatbot hype, I believe there's an opportunity in human-to-human interaction. So it's no coincidence that Box The Party's minimally viable product - which launched last week - is all via SMS.

As the number of ways we can see and reach customers grows, seemingly at an exponential rate, retail organizations also become more complex. More sharing is needed. Meeting calendars are filling up faster than ever. When an initiative touches marketing, online/mobile, store visits, and tech, who owns it? Everyone? No one?

I packed about 17 experiences into my one day (Saturday, 3/11/17) in Austin, not including all the mind-expanding conversations I had along the way. The global, truly interdisciplinary nature of the crowd this event continues to draw is beyond impressive.

For an increasing number of purchases, consumers don’t need to enter a physical retail store. It's why foot traffic is down: When consumers know they want to buy something, they often can do it online. 

Consumers need reasons to enter stores even when they don't intend to buy. Here's what I've seen drawing traffic recently and keeping visitors inside.

When I’m in a store and I don’t have good cell service, I’m always surprised by how often I find the retailer doesn’t have public Wi-Fi. The reason I’m surprised is there are so many good reasons for stores to offer customers free Wi-Fi.

Amidst a world of digital snippets and statistical click bait, ELLE Magazine printed a well-researched longread on retail trends an sentiment in its January 2017 issue. I read it with interest because it's a fresh source talking to a different reader than the mainstream business publications. I wanted to know which themes they're seeing -- and reinforcing.

Last month, I wrote about my successful shopping experience with Hamlet, where I discovered and bought a table lamp via text. Around the same time, I needed to book a flight so I downloaded the Mezi app. 

As I've told people I'm heading to China this week for "Singles Day", I've found I need to remind some what this holiday - also known as "11.11" - is. 

Below you'll find:

1. What I'm most excited to learn more about in Shenzhen

2. Key quotes from Alibaba's earnings conference call last week

Throughout, I'm linking to recent articles about 11.11, Alibaba and its competitors.

I read about Hamlet a couple of months ago. Having procrastinated on a ceiling light search because I had a specific aesthetic in mind yet technical limitations to conquer, I decided the time was ripe to try my "personal home stylist, from the comfort of my phone". I'm so glad I did.

Hamlet has a conveniently low barrier for consumer entry because it's just a number to text -- not an app, not even Facebook Messenger.