It’s been a busy week in the battle between Amazon and Walmart. Late last week, Amazon made a lot of noise with the announcement that it had agreed to acquire Whole Foods for nearly $14 billion in cash. This move is an obvious effort to bolster Amazon’s lagging grocery business, while hopefully making a dent in Walmart’s stronghold on the grocery business. Walmart had its turn as well with the announcement that it was acquiring […]

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), Americans are anticipating spending more on Father’s Day gifts this year than any other year. So just how much are Americans looking to spend? Let’s just say that the amount is insane. To be more specific, the NRF is expecting total spending to hit $15.5 billion this year, which is $1.2 billion more than last year. This isn’t overly surprising given the fact that Americans seem to spend […]

The rise of e-commerce is making its mark on brick and mortar retailing. We’ve seen plenty of big name retailers changing their brick and mortar strategy, including closing or downsizing their stores, carrying less on-hand physical inventory, and using stores as an e-commerce fulfillment channel. We’ve also seen the impact on malls across the country; namely, less people are visiting malls these days. The result is empty storefronts, which can result in the death of […]

Uber’s development of autonomous trucks has been in the news a lot lately. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been for the reasons the company has hoped. First, there was the lawsuit filed by Google alleging that Anthony Levandowski, one of Otto’s top engineers (and formerly an engineer at Google’s self-driving car venture Waymo) downloaded 14,000 confidential files related to automated vehicle tech and then left the company to found Otto. As a result, Uber fired Levandowsi. However, […]

As I work to finish up my latest Transportation Management Systems Market Study, one thing is becoming clear: the cloud is in. This applies to basically all software applications these days as more and more suppliers are offering cloud solutions, and more and more customers are demanding them. For my latest study, cloud revenues have soared past those of on-premise solutions. This wasn’t always a given, as a lot of customers were wary about shifting […]

Over the weekend, there was a massive coordinated cyber-attack that hit more than 150 countries. The attack targeted businesses, hospitals, and government agencies, as well as personal computers. This was the worst computer worm- outbreak in more than a decade, as Europe’s police agency estimated at least 200,000 computers had been hit, while Chinese officials put the number at more than 1,000,000 worldwide. Files on affected computers were encrypted, and users were told to pay […]

It’s been busy around here. I spent the week in Las Vegas for the Manhattan Associates user conference. The conference theme was “active solutions for an active world.” And that is exactly what Manhattan showcased. While I will certainly have an in-depth write-up and a case study story to share later, I’ll leave you with a few points. First, Manhattan has launched a first of its kind “omni-channel as a service” offering. It’s a combination […]

I remember being a kid and watching re-runs of the Jetsons – you know, the futuristic Flintstones. The show was set in a non-specific future utopia filled with robots, flying cars, and all sorts of other space-age contraptions. Every time I watched it, I couldn’t help but think what a wonderful world. But it recently dawned on me that we are closer to living the life of the Jetsons than we even realize. Think about […]

Patriots’ Day is one of the best days of the year in Boston. For those of you that don’t know what Patriots’ Day is, I’ll tell you. It is a state holiday commemorating the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. It is observed on the third Monday in April, and kicks off school vacation week. There are war re-enactments and parades to celebrate. It is […]

I saw over the weekend that Norway is planning on building the world’s first ship tunnel to bypass part of the ocean. The tunnel will be a 5,610-feet passageway dug through a piece of rocky peninsula that will allow vessels to avoid a treacherous part of sea. The tunnel will be 118 feet wide, 162 feet tall, and will accommodate cruise and freight ships weighing up to 16,000 tons. The tunnel, if it remains on […]