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Meet "OSHbot" Lowes New Store Helper; Goodbye Retail Associates, Hello Robots

MishTalk

Advances in sensors, wireless networking, voice recognition and design prototyping are enabling us to build the smart retail robots that can autonomously navigate through stores, help communicate with customers to understand what they need and locate it quickly. Not even the most knowledgeable human clerk can do that. It''s well worth a play.

Retail 78
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Thinking lifetime (don't break the chain)

Seth Godin Blog

Make the sale, cut your costs, move on. When a customer shows up at their website then, searching for a new feature like eprinting or getting their wireless to work, it''s both an opportunity and warning sign. The traveling salesman, the carnival barker and the old-time businessman can hit and run. Subscription.

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How to Know Which Digital Trends Are Worth Chasing

Harvard Business

No strategy is static. In the online realm, Amazon’s experiment with its Echo wireless speaker technology – also known as Alexa – has the potential to turn the cumbersome online checkout process on its head. Kroger has aligned its entire business around a “Customer 1st” brand strategy.

Trends 35
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What Does Whole Foods Get from Amazon? Alexa, for Starters

Harvard Business

All the talk about Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods has been about how the deal will benefit Amazon’s “sell everything” strategy. What if we turn the question around: What does this deal do to Whole Foods’s “sell at a high price” strategy? Can Alexa sell Whole Foods’s inventory?

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How to Handle Work When Your Child Is Sick

Harvard Business

Working parenthood in and of itself presents a massive logistical and emotional challenge, and when your child is unwell, that challenge ramps up significantly: How do you explain to your boss that you can’t make it to the big sales meeting? Cancel the monthly sales trip? Take turns with your partner covering at home?

How To 28
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How Tech Is Transforming Entry-Level, Customer-Facing Jobs

Harvard Business

Takeaways from a survey of more than 800 customer service reps.

Survey 59
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AT&T, Time Warner, and What Makes Vertical Mergers Succeed

Harvard Business

Combining the second-largest wireless carrier with the fourth-biggest entertainment company — one whose impressive assets include HBO and CNN — is likely to create an unassailable mobile-entertainment business. But there’s an old saying in corporate strategy: Two turkeys don’t make an eagle.