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Walmart is pushing back against allegations from the Groundwork Collaborative that it uses or plans to use digital shelf labels for dynamic or personalized pricing. In a letter to Groundwork President Lindsay Owens, Walmart EVP Dan Bartlett asked her to 'correct the record,' reiterating that Walmart does not and will not use digital shelf labels for individual or dynamic pricing. Owens responded that the confusion is of Walmart's own making, citing a Groundwork report on Walmart patents, including one granted in 2023 for remote controlling electronic shelf labels with dynamic pricing capabilities. Walmart said the patent describes a possible use but is not a plan, and that it will not use or renew it. The exchange follows a statement from Walmart CEO John Furner aiming to dispel concerns, and comes as personalized pricing gains regulatory attention.
A Site Impact survey of 800 consumers finds that only about one-quarter feel brands understand their interests very well, while over half say brands misunderstand them or fail to update data quickly enough. Nearly three in five regularly receive marketing for items they viewed once but never seriously considered, and a quarter are frustrated by brands assuming a single search implies lasting interest. Even helpful personalization can feel invasive: nearly one-third say it has become more relevant but also more invasive, and three in five find cross-channel marketing annoying or invasive. Transparency and customer control over data are key to avoiding creepiness, according to Julie Geller of Info-Tech Research Group. More than two in five consumers have stopped doing business with a brand due to repetitive, overly personal, or off-base personalized marketing, and another third have been tempted to leave.
Newgen Software announced its recognition in Forrester's B2B Customer Service Solutions Landscape, Q3 2026 report. The report, authored by Laura Ramos, covers 19 vendors. Newgen emphasizes its view of customer service as part of a larger business process, focusing on AI-driven service orchestration.
Target deeply applies AI technology in the 2025 back-to-school season, from wish list creation to personalized homepage layouts, aiming to improve customer experience. Data shows that customers who create wish lists have approximately 45% higher demand, while nationwide K-12 and college back-to-school spending is expected to reach $43.3 billion and $103.5 billion, respectively.
Petco relaunched its Petco Perks loyalty program in the second quarter of 2026. Customer points redemptions far exceeded expectations, impacting net sales by millions of dollars and leaving them roughly flat year over year. CEO Joel Anderson said measures have been deployed to curb redemptions, and the company will focus on personalization capabilities to support long-term growth.
A 2022 Oracle study showed that most consumers prefer fun brands, but most business managers are worried about using humor in customer interactions. Experts believe that the risk lies not in humor itself, but in its inappropriate use. This article synthesizes the views of multiple experts to explore the value of humor in customer service, applicable scenarios, style choices, and corporate culture support.
According to the latest Gartner survey, only 22% of enterprises have successfully scaled AI across multiple business units, and 85% of technology leaders plan to increase AI investment next year, but most lack visibility into AI spending, making it difficult to measure return on investment.
Operata announced the launch of 'Numéro' for Genesys Cloud CX on April 29, 2026. This release provides deeper observability, including CX Copilot and Agent Copilot features, and initiates a design partner program to develop voice bot monitoring capabilities.
The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (LBBD), in partnership with KPSOL, introduces a centralized knowledge management platform that integrates operational guidance scattered across shared drives, documents, and internal systems into a structured, searchable knowledge base, enabling customer service advisors to quickly access accurate information during phone and digital inquiries, thereby enhancing service consistency and staff training outcomes.