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The secret to AI job security?
Over the past few months, I have been thinking a lot about what this new wave of generative AI really means for knowledge workers, careers, and companies. The ZDNET article,…
The 5G Dividend: How Store-Level Connectivity Is Driving Retail’s Financial Performance Gap
Retail has spent years debating which technologies truly move the needle on financial performance. While AI grabs the headlines and computer vision dominates conference keynotes, the IHL Group's latest research…
Make the Most of NRF 2026
How are your plans for NRF 2026 going? Have all your leads and meetings set up? If not, let IHL and RetailROI help. After 32 years my team has put…
Dreamforce 2025: From Unified Commerce to Agentic Orchestration—Salesforce Sets the Stage for the Next Wave of Value
Retailers and manufacturers face mounting pressure to adapt. Dreamforce 2025 responded not with incremental upgrades but with a clear operating roadmap that prioritizes scalable impact and measurable outcomes. Salesforce’s moves…
SAP Connect – Big 5 for Retail: AI, Engagement, and Orchestration Unleashed
I just returned from SAP Connect 2025 in Las Vegas. This was essentially a new event as a unification of five prior events (CX, Spend, Success, Finance, and Supply Chain…
Retail Inventory Crisis Persists Despite $172 Billion in Improvements
The global retail industry continues to hemorrhage $1.73 trillion annually due to the cost of out-of-stocks and overstocks according to IHL Group. "The next decade will see technology advancements that…
AI Resilience – What Defines the Most Successful Companies in the Future
Right now we are in the early stages of AI investment. The Mag 7 are the initial beneficiaries and the hyperscalers and software companies are the biggest spenders as we…
The Brutal Reality of Retail AI Economics
Remember when retail tech projects were fairly linear? You'd spend months or years selecting a new POS system, then years more implementing it. Those days are gone. The AI revolution…
The Hidden Enemy: Unmasking and Combating the Growing Threat of Retail Return Fraud
When we talk about the retail returns crisis, we're often focused on legitimate returns—the sizing issues, product dissatisfaction, or simple buyer's remorse. But lurking within those growing return rates is…
Why Your Retail Store’s Signage Is Secretly Sabotaging Your Sales (And How to Fix It)
The Hidden Sales Killer Lurking in Plain Sight You've spent thousands on inventory and marketing, but your store's signage could be silently driving customers away—here's why. Poor signage doesn't just…