In 2016, one of the biggest warehouse developers in the world, Prologis, opened a venture capital arm with the goal of investing in cutting-edge supply chain solutions. This has given the company a window into the future of not just warehousing, but emerging industry practices around logistics and distribution. That includes retailers, and Will O’Donnell, managing partner of Prologis Ventures, offered his view on the challenges facing the sector and how they are helping solve them.

What are some of the challenges and pain points that retailers are experiencing in their supply chains right now?

Where we see a lot of our customers focused on is inventory management. So how do they get the right goods at the right time in the right place within their facilities? That’s where we’re excited about the utilization of data and also AI and ML to provide more predictive insights. We’re spending a lot of time understanding how [to] digitize our assets to partner with our customers so they can get better visibility into what’s happening within the warehouse. Computer vision is an area where we’re spending a lot of time to understand how it can be used to help our customers optimize their operations.

Talk more about this problem of visibility. Where does it come from and what are some of the other technological solutions you’re looking into?

Part of it is the siloed nature of supply chain logistics. There’s so many different parties who have to come together in a cohesive fashion for the supply chain to work.

Keep reading here.—AV

Amazon says the power of AI is leading to significant shifts in its business. The tech giant uses AI in everything from customer assistance and summarizing customer reviews to fit recommendations and rewriting product titles on the fly.

Doug Herrington, CEO of Amazon Worldwide Stores, said AI is among the biggest technological revolutions.

“AI is becoming transformative for our business, and we really haven’t had a technology revolution as large as this since the start of the internet,” Herrington said during his keynote session at NRF on Sunday. “We had some big ones roll through. I think the shift to mobile was very large, the rise of the social platforms was quite large, but nothing as large or as extensible as this.”

Keep reading here.—VC

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Melissa Gonzalez is principal and MG2 Advisory lead at MG2 Design, a global architecture, design, and branding studio that’s worked with retailers like Victoria’s Secret, Nordstrom, and Target.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in retail? I am a constantly curious person. I lead a team that is studying trends and human behaviors year round, then illuminating opportunities for brands and retailers. We use a data-driven approach to push creative opportunities that are grounded in insights and tied to ROI metrics.

One thing we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile? I love a challenge and I thrive in the unknown and finding the opportunities in problems that need to be solved.

What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on? This is so hard! [Last year, it was] so rewarding working with a spectrum of clients—from Kizik to Good American to Nordstrom. I think one of the most rewarding from a human level has been helping the Navy reimagine retail for their sailors.

Which emerging retail trend are you most excited about right now, and why? I am extremely passionate about studying Gen Alpha as a whole.

Keep reading here.—EC

Retailers are tackling the rising costs of skyrocketing returns with smarter strategies. Discover how they’re transforming this growing challenge into opportunities.