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The holiday season is here, and global retailers are prepared for the biggest retail event of the year. The decrease in new COVID-19 cases, coupled with a rise in vaccination rates, provides a glimmer of hope for shoppers looking to spend for friends and family. Holiday spending is expected to break previous records this year, growing up to 10.5 percent over 2020.

It’s nearly here. The annual mad rush at the wee hours of the morning. The stampede into retail stores to claim really deep discounts on the latest toys, electronics, and gadgets makes headline news every year. It begins the day after Thanksgiving and is usually two of the biggest shopping days of the year. Yes, we’re talking about Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

The events of 2020 accelerated ecommerce sales. According to Adobe Analytics (analyzing website transactions from 80 of the top 100 U.S. online retailers), shoppers shelled out $10.8 billion online during Cyber Monday 2020 — a single day of shopping — for a 15.1% year-over-year increase. 2020 was just the precursor to 2021, which may actually warrant use of the word “epic”, making online shopping more appealing than ever before.

For retailers, uptime is money and issues can cost thousands of dollars per minute. With infrastructure comprising complex services such as payment gateways, inventory, and mobile applications, maturing digital operations is vital for ensuring services are always on and customers get the best experience.

Internet Of Things has always played a significant role in the retail industry, stocking and warehousing. And its value is projected to rise from USD 14.5 billion in 2020 to USD 35.5 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 19.6% The term Internet of Things was coined by Kevin Ashton when he was faced with a challenge in logistics and supply chain management while he co-founded the MIT Auto-CAD centre.

It’s hard to believe we’re already talking about the return to school, but it’s set to be a big one. In fact, this year promises to be the biggest in the last five years. The National Retail Federation expects back-to-school spending to reach $37.1B , up from $33.9B last year. Back-to-college spending is also expected to rise, reaching $71B this year. This increase is buoyed by parents and students gearing up for their first in-person classes after a year of virtual learning.

With the never-ending potential of technology to disrupt everyday processes, more and more industries are deciding to adapt to one exciting area of innovation today: artificial intelligence (AI). In fact, Global Industry Analysts Inc. predicts that AI will be worth 164.03 billion GBP by 2026, and here, we look at four industries set to be disrupted by AI. Since the healthcare sector collects and greatly depends on personal data from their patients, AI will play a crucial role in data management.