In online and brick-and-mortar retail you can see a tug-of-war for the customer's favor, but this battle only obscures one of the most important future trends, the Internet of Things (IoT). As a result, retail is increasingly losing direct contact with its customers, regardless of whether it is online or offline.

Microsoft just unveiled the latest cloud and IoT innovative technology at the inaugural 2035 E-Mobility Taiwan Exhibition, further unlocking potential of cloud computing for smart mobility industry, besides highlighting its partnership with MIH Consortium (MIH), global manufacturing leader Foxconn's electric vehicle (EV) software and hardware open platform. Leveraging the power of Microsoft's cloud service, Azure, the partnership delivers secure and innovative cloud-native solutions.

Since everyone is talking about neuromarketing, smaller retailers, in particular, often wonder what opportunities it holds for them. Well, basically it is using findings from the past that can now be put to practical use. If you want, you could for instance even consider the church as the inventor of neuromarketing since a visit to a church can explain quite well how multi-sensor technology works.

I think, we can all agree that returns of goods bought online have a massive impact on the carbon footprint of the entire retail industry, costing companies millions and customers time. Hence, there is no question that a reduction in returns is in the interest of everyone involved. But how can online retailers get their customers to the point to shop in such a way that there are fewer returns?

A study by the German Ruhr-Universität Bochum and the American North Carolina State University, performed the first large-scale analysis of Alexa Skills. Skills are Alexa’s versions of apps, that are used via voice-commands and can be loaded onto the Amazon voice assistant. The study group’s examination revealed that this could bring not only advantages, but security risks and data protection problems for users, too.

The past few months have had a significant impact on economic development and people's behavior. Still, the exact extent of the devastating effects of the global crisis cannot be foreseen. Social distancing and enacted business closings during the lockdowns have forced retailers to break new ground. Brick-and-mortar shops had to try absorbing the losses with new models – with mixed success since many of these retailers just started out.

Kentico Xperience, an award-winning digital experience platform that combines content management, digital marketing and commerce, summarizes in its whitepaper, Omnichannel marketing for customer-driven interactions, the challenges companies are facing when determining the most effective ways to connect to customers for omnichannel marketing and selling.

Consumer advocate organizations, such as the Center for Digital Democracy, are criticizing neuromarketing's potentially invasive technology.

The privacy concerns come from consumers being unaware of the purpose of the research, how the results will be used, or haven't even given consent in the first place. Some are even afraid that neuromarketers will have the ability to read a consumer's mind and put them at "risk of discrimination, stigmatization, and coercion."

However, industry associations across the world have taken measures to address the issue around privacy. For example, the Neuromarketing Science & Business Association has established general principles and ethical guidelines surrounding best practices for researchers to adhere to.

Below are some guidelines that intend to mitigate the risk of researchers breaching a participant's privacy, if they want their research to be academically recognized.

1. Do not bring any kind of prejudice in research methodology, results, and participants.
2. Do not take advantage of participants’ lack of awareness in the field.
3. Communicate what participants should expect during research (methodologies).
4. Be honest with results.
5. Participant data should remain confidential.
6. Reveal data collection techniques to participants.
7. Do not coerce participants to join research and allow them to leave when they want.
   
   

Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, for instance, claims that neuromarketing is "having an effect on individuals that individuals are not informed about" and though there has not historically been regulation on adult advertising due to adults having defense mechanisms to discern what is true and untrue, regulations should now be placed: "if the advertising is now purposely designed to bypass those rational defenses . . . protecting advertising speech in the marketplace has to be questioned."  (Source: Wikipedia)

By MediaBUZZ

In the recent study ''Life Reimagined', the consulting firm Accenture examined which developments are increasingly influencing the purchasing decisions of consumers today and how companies should react to them to continue playing a role in their market in the future.

Visa announced that it has helped to digitally-enable an estimated 16 million small and micro businesses (SMBs) worldwide, or just over 30% of the multi-year goal it set in 2020 to digitize 50 million SMBs.

Cyber-attacks are the greatest risk to a company’s operational capacity, as well as its revenue and brand value. With the digital transformation, and with it an acceleration of modern technology, there has been a vast increase of security issues that Chief Information Security Officers (CISO’s) have had to face. This is especially true for small to medium business, as these companies have accelerated straight through to the Cloud and experienced at full force all the new and developing related issues. Similar issues face larger corporations, but at differing degrees.

A consumer who is looking for a product on the Internet is an ideal recipient for targeted online marketing since the person indicated an interest. The start-up Nano Interactive can help in proving search-intent targeted advertising, “based on a technology that even the search engine giant Google cannot keep up with”, the company states.

Rakuten SQREEM Inc., the joint venture between Singapore-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) Solutions Company SQREEM Technologies and global leader in internet services Rakuten Group, Inc., announced the launch of a new advertising product that offers deeper insights and significantly more targeted media buying.

Smaato, an omnichannel digital ad-tech platform and ad server, recently announced their integration with cybersecurity company HUMAN, a cybersecurity company that protects enterprises from bot attacks to keep digital experiences human. Its ‘Human Verification Engine’ roots out fraud before it can impact the bottom line. In conjunction with Smaato’s own sophisticated automated systems, safety and security on the platform for publishers and marketers alike is guaranteed. The company’s digital ad-tech platform is a self-serve omnichannel monetization solution that offers publishers the ability to manage their entire ad stack in one place.