The Week of March 27th: 10 things eft's been reading

Otto weighs in on AI; Automation’s tole on the workforce is quantified, Retailers fight to stay relevant

1. Consumer habits are shifting. One of the drivers is technology, but another is generational differences. Milennials don’t like department stores. ‘Nordstrom is the latest department store to turn to a startup to court millennial shoppers’ [Recode]

2. There’s been a lot of talk recently about job-killing automation. Here’s TechCrunch’s take – suggesting that tech can also fix joblessness. ‘Technology is killing jobs, and only technology can save them’ [TechCrunch]

3. In fact, some say the US is … well, I’ll let them tell you: ‘The U.S. will be hit worse by job automation than other major economies’ [Recode]

4. And some more stats on automation’s job murder-rate: ‘Six jobs are eliminated for every robot introduced into the workforce, a new study says’ [Recode]

5. Speaking of automation, it turns out automating a store (basically a big vending machine) is harder than expected. ‘Amazon's checkout-free physical shop 'can't cope with more than 20 people' [The Guardian]

6. But they’re trying to figure out some other ways to work around it. ‘Amazon wants to deliver groceries to your car in 15 minutes’ [Cnet]

7. You might have seen, Otto is set to keynote the 3PL Summit in Chicago – June 14-16. ‘In 10 Years, Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Trucking, Says Otto Exec’ [Fortune]

8. Manufacturers and retailers have left air shipping in a hard spot as they choose cheaper alternatives. One company sees an opportunity here. ‘Gigantic drones may be the key to low-cost air shipping’ [engadget]

9. [VIDEO] Zara owns the fashion supply chain. How did that come to be? ‘Zara: How a Spaniard Invented Fast Fashion’ [Youtube] (eft’s take on Zara here)

10. DIY has been a bright point on the bleakness of retail’s harsh transformation under eCommerce. ‘Lowe’s efforts to retool its stores may backfire, say employees’ [FastCompany]

 

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