In this weeks episode Alex and Kai talk about the Brexit (aka the UK leaves the European Union) and the impact that can have on the ecommerce world. Also Oaklab made it to the news – the company behind the Magic Mirror from Rebecca Minkoff and Ralph Lauren flagship stores. And finally we discuss if the self checkout approach of Zara is likely to be successful.

Brexit and ecommerce

What would Brexit mean for the UK’s ecommerce economy? – http://goo.gl/527tFF

Brexit’s Implications for the Digital Economy – https://goo.gl/eazWVn

Wie der Brexit den Onlinehandel gefährdet – http://goo.gl/NOK6mk (German)

Schockstarre oder Chance? Der E-Commerce nach dem Brexit – http://goo.gl/v0IEan (German)

OAK Labs Magic Mirror @ Rebecca Minkoff and Ralph Lauren

Inside LA’s new, futuristic store — magic mirrors included – http://goo.gl/WFz7xv

Rebecca Minkoff’s Store Of The Future Will Blow Your Mind – http://goo.gl/rajH4o

Ralph Lauren, Oak Labs Debut Interactive Fitting Rooms – http://goo.gl/np6qwn

Chatbots are around for quite some time now

Even though it seems like chatbots are a new topic because they recently flood the news, they are around for quite some time now. The first chatbot was presented by Joseph Weizenbaum back in 1966. It was named ELIZA and was meant to show how computers and humans can communicate. It could simulate a dialogue with a psychotherapist, which it did by comparing the user input with its thesaurus, searching for a matching word and putting this in a preconstructed phrase. In this way it was already able to convince the users that it could understand their problems. However Weizenbaum did not claim that the system was in any way intelligent. Weizenbaums research goes back to the famous article by Alan Turing about “Computing Machinery and Intelligence“. But even if we don’t go back in time that far chatbots are not…

In this episode Alex & Kai talk more about the the actual development of the payment landscape, especially Apple Pay in the web and Samsungs further rollout. The automation of retail and logistics is another interesting topic, as well as we discuss the possible death of the app (as we know it).

More on Payment

Apple Pay Is Coming to All Shopify Stores This Fall – https://goo.gl/zJCQdu

Shopify leads slew of retail partners implementing Apple Pay for Web – http://goo.gl/Vrsj3B

Apple takes on PayPal with Apple Pay on the web – https://goo.gl/94RVKl

Samsung Pay launches in Australia to take on “tap-and-go” credit cards – https://goo.gl/ZeKIrq

Facebook ups its ecommerce game by trialing payments for Pages – http://goo.gl/538O3b

PayPal advances mobile checkout convenience new One Touch log-in requirements – http://goo.gl/ZwrlbN

Retail Automation

Should Retail Brace For Workforce Automation? – http://goo.gl/nSPUkG

Wal-Mart’s drone at a distribution center highlights efficiency – https://goo.gl/DwrjZT

Are Robots Better…