Now that the Amazon Echo has reached the UK, thousands of Brits are getting to grips with the cylindrical speaker's smart assistant, Alexa. Companies like Just Eat and Sky have created app-like "Skills" for the Echo, allowing owners to re-order their last takeaway and receive news updates, but Amazon's own integrations have been lacking compared to those available in the US. To celebrate availability of the Echo Dot, the retailer today confirmed that a number of new features are available on UK Echos, including Alexa voice shopping and ESP (Echo Spatial Perception). With Alexa voice shopping, Prime subscribers can talk to their Echo to order products and check the status of their delivery. Amazon says "order paper towels," "order dog food" and "buy some LEGO" are some good examples of what you can ask Alexa to find.

Today with the growth of the internet of things there is a surge in usage of fast internet, smartphones, portable devices, smart TV, smart wearable and connected cars among retail consumers. This indicates the rise of connected consumers. This has made the huge impact in the retail landscape and the retail experience is evolving from multi-channel to Omni-channel. The connected consumer requires connected retail. Omni-channel retailing means establishing a presence on many channels and platforms (i.e. Physical stores remain the foundation of retailing, evidenced by the fact that - in the internet era, 90% of retail sales still take place in physical stores. According to eMarketer, the total retail sales in the US topped 4.53 trillion in 2013, of this brick-and-mortar sales still command a vast majority of the retail market nearly 4.27 trillion. According to A.T. Kearney, 95 percent of all retail sales are captured by retailers with a brick-and-mortar presence in total retail. Two-thirds of consumers who purchase online use the store before or after the transaction. The role of the brick & mortar store is changing, NOT going away. Stores remain at the heart of retailers' relationships with consumers, even in today's "Omni Channel" world where online and physical sales appear to rule. According to a report, When it comes to product trial and tests, respondents indicate a clear preference for physical stores. Despite the growing popularity of e-commerce and digital retailing are capturing headlines in news media and inspiring spirited debates (blah, blah..) retailers plan how best to invest for future success, including a plan to build an another planet. The e-commerce retail market share is only 263 billion. It is only 5.8% of the market share. Small basket, single channel, ineffective delivery, can't see, can't feel or try made it as a hard business model. Is pure play e-commerce is an unprofitable business model? Investment on e-commerce is "river of no returns"? Are we nearing the end of the e-commerce bubble? Is M-commerce the future of retail? Drop out, make an app, go viral and make money?

One day, you could be using your own personal drone to help you find your vehicle again in a busy car park. That is if a patent granted to Amazon becomes a reality. The company has revealed plans for an'unmanned aerial vehicle assistant' could also be used by traffic police to help them catch speeding drivers. One day traffic police might become a thing of the past, as humans might be replaced by drones. That is if a patent granted to Amazon becomes a reality.

Back in September, Digital Trends exclusively reported that Google would open pop-up shops in New York City to showcase its latest and greatest hardware. Google will open the doors of its new 96 Spring Street pop-up shop on October 20 to the public. The space will be open throughout the holidays to tempt people into buying Google's Pixel phones, Daydream View VR headset, Google Home, and Chromecast Ultra. We strolled into 96 Spring Street to see Google's new hardware ecosystem in action and walked away with a better understanding of the search giant's future trajectory into the great unknown landscape of artificial intelligence. Google's AI Assistant is at the core of every experience we saw at the pop-up shop.

A few months ago, we told you about a cute little robot that may be the signal of a new generation of AI-powered devices that could change the consumer robotic landscape. Well, Cozmo is now ready to come out and play with whomever wants a cute, robot companion that will hopefully not become sentient someday and take over your life. But we're not kidding about how this tiny machine can entertain and amuse those who have a hundred dollars or so to spare. Calling it "a small bot with a big brain and an even bigger personality", Cozmo's makers are Anki, a consumer robotics and artificial intelligence company. And they have created a tiny companion that you can play with and also to some extent, relate with.

Being the world's largest online-only grocery supermarket with over 500,000 active customers means we get the opportunity to interact with people all across the UK on a daily basis. Ocado prides itself on offering the best customer service in the industry which is one of the many reasons why our customers keep coming back. Since Ocado doesn't have physical stores, there are mainly two ways our customers and our employees interact directly. The first (and probably most common) is when our drivers deliver the groceries to the customers' doorsteps; the second is when customers call or email us using our contact center based in the UK. Today we're going to tell you a bit more about how a customer contact center works and how Ocado is making it smarter.

For years, the retail industry has been talking about the rise of mobile and how it may disrupt everything. But according to a new report released today by App Annie -- an app analytics and market intelligence company -- the future is already here. Mobile, especially in the U.S., has already taken over. Looking at both online-first and "bricks-and-clicks" retailers, the study shows that, while mobile is affecting everyone, the U.S. is apparently leading the way. "Most surprising is how well U.S. bricks-and-clicks retailers are doing relative to others outside of the U.S.," Danielle Levitas, SVP of research and marketing communications at App Annie, told me.

Apple Inc. hired a prominent artificial intelligence researcher from Carnegie Mellon University as it seeks to regain lost ground against competitors such as Google, Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com He posted a link to an Apple job application page seeking machine learning specialists. Apple is seeking scientists with "experience in Deep Learning, Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Reinforcement Learning, Optimization, and/or Data Mining," it said in the job listing. Machine learning has gained mounting importance for tech companies to improve their research and enable virtual assistants such as Siri to better anticipate and predict users' needs. Siri is competing with the Google Assistant, Microsoft's Cortana and Amazon's Alexa to become the virtual assistant of choice and the access point for users seeking online services.

Nestled in the heart of a historic city centre, this is Amazon's secret lab where it is building and testing drones that aim to deliver packages to customer's homes within just 30 minutes. The workshop, hidden in Cambridge city centre away from the public's eyes, is one of the main hubs where the online retail giant is developing its new Prime Air Service. Once launched, the service will allow drones to safely deliver packages to people's homes in under 30 minutes. The secret workshop is nestled in the heart of Cambridge city centre - unbeknownst to the general public - and it is the base where Amazon is creating special drones (above) that will safely deliver packages to customer's homes in under 30 minutes The lab is using 3D printing technology which allows it to make parts needed for the drone much quicker. It is the largest outdoor testing facility in the UK and is one of a number of testing sites in the UK along with those in Austria, Israel and U.S. The drones - created for Amazon's Prime Air Service - will use GPS coordinates to find their delivery destination and will fly to a maximum height of 400ft before identifying a marker to land and deliver the package using a'sense and avoid' system Packages that weigh just over 2kg - which make up 87 per cent of the items Amazon sells - will be delivered as far as 15 miles.

With changes in ecommerce taking place at a faster rate than ever before, two major shifts in consumer behavior have impacted retailers in a way that they cannot ignore. The first is the increasing importance placed on consumer reviews. This trend has grown in significance, with one survey stating that 88 percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. Google itself is paying more attention to reviews, with industry analysts noting that consumer opinions are impacting page ranking more than ever before. The second shift is around retailers who are using semantic search technology to power their search bar.