As vaccination rates continue to increase, consumers are shifting spending habits from hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes to new clothes and personal care supplies. Retailers are seeing strong sales heading into Q3 as a result. Amazon Prime Day, typically held over the summer, was pushed…

IHL’s latest report on the future of grocery shows some hard lessons learned from the 2020 disruptions, especially when it comes to inventory accuracy. Out-of-stocks (OOS) have always plagued the grocery industry, but the rise of digital shopping last year exposed some new causes for…

In many parts of the world, but unfortunately not all, consumers are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. After nearly 15 months of minimizing and even avoiding shopping trips to protect their health, consumers are making their way back to the outside…

Omni-Channel Fulfillment Microservice E-commerce made its mark in 2020, with digital trends accelerating two to five years due to COVID-19. Savvy retailers worked quickly to expand shopping options from the beginning of the shopping journey. They implemented buy online pick up in store (BOPIS), curbside…

You wouldn’t know it from what you see today, but the first Jack-o’-lanterns were made from turnips. In fact, the event that we now call Halloween was based on the Celtic festival of Samhain, marking the end of summer. Villages celebrated with harvest feasts, and the bones…

In retail, there is one constant you can count on, and that’s change. Competitors emerge, chains consolidate, regulations evolve, and economies fluctuate – while consumer expectations continue to grow. And, as we saw in 2020, a global pandemic can further cause change. For success in…