Retail Tech Insights: Specials Magazine

Retailers, wholesalers, and consumer brands are operating on a foundation built decades ago—one that wasn’t designed for the complexity of today’s Omnichannel world. Over time, they have layered on countless systems, each solving a specific problem but creating a tangled web of disconnected data. Now, every pricing decision, inventory forecast, and content update is a battle against outdated technology. AI holds the promise of transformation, yet without a unified data foundation, its potential remains locked away. Achieving this transformation requires more than new tools—it demands a reimagined approach to data, decision-making, and profitability. Digital Wave Technology breaks through these challenges with a unified, AI-native platform—the ONE™ Platform—where clean, secure, connected data fuels AI-driven solutions for retail, consumer goods, and healthcare. With a master data core, analytical database, and AI framework, every function, from merchandising and supply chain to marketing and pricing, works from one data model and a single version of truth to make faster, more informed decisions that drive growth. The ONE™ platform offers extensible enterprise solutions configured to the company's business processes. IT teams can extend the solutions’ capabilities through domain-specific models, plugins, and APIs—embracing new technologies and cloud services while keeping core systems stable. Technology and Data Science teams benefit from a rapid development environment to quickly build, test, and deploy new solutions to stay ahead of evolving needs, while lowering the total cost of ownership for solutions. By focusing on business-driven technology and service, the platform helps clients gain a competitive edge through advanced analytics and smooth enterprise integration. "Our company is focused on helping clients maximize revenue, margin, and profitability while maintaining balanced inventory to deliver exceptional experiences for customers— whether online or in physical stores," says Lori Schafer, CEO of Digital Wave Technology. The One™ Platform: Unifying Data For Smarter Decisions The platform's enterprise solutions offer businesses a competitive edge through advanced analytics, automation, and data-driven decision-making. Master data management, product information management, and generative AI capabilities centralize product information, generate on-brand product or marketing content, and automate product attribute assignments. Image generation allows clothing to be placed on models without the need for photoshoots, reducing marketing costs. Merchandising and marketing functions receive a significant boost through omnichannel solutions, ensuring product availability both online and in physical stores. Merchandise financial planning, assortment planning, price optimization, promotional planning, allocation, replenishment, and order management form the foundation for retailers and brands to manage demand, inventory and sales efficiently.

Retail success in brick-and-mortar stores goes beyond the numbers game. The challenge lies in transforming a store into an engaging, sales-driving experience that keeps customers coming back. From strategic product placement to compelling brand storytelling, every detail counts in shaping customer perception. “Without real-time visibility of in-store conditions, brands risk flying blind, unable to respond quickly to sales trends or optimize retail presence. However, visibility alone is not enough; it must be accompanied by strategic action,” says Brian Tervo, CEO. ThirdChannel bridges these worlds by tying together the right people, tools and strategies to maximize sales impact. At its core is a cloud-based retail analytics platform combined with an expert contracted workforce, enabling data-driven action. By asking the right questions and tailoring strategies, the company ensures brands receive accurate insights into store operations and retail strategy, allowing them to actively enhance their retail presence. Central to ThirdChannel’s approach is its platform, which essentially functions as a purpose-built CRM for retail field operations, gathering data from in-store visits. The collected data is later synchronized across marketing, sales and executive teams. Brands can track store performance, sales patterns and merchandising execution—all in one place. Featuring a user-friendly, AI-powered mobile app for data collection and execution, ThirdChannel enables brand representatives to log store visits, capture photos, update inventory status and promptly report merchandising issues. Equipped with geo-tagging, time-stamped photography and survey dependencies, it ensures that all data is verified, relevant and actionable. The app and platform work together through a real-time feed. Their dashboard is similar to social media, where teams can instantly access updates, tag colleagues for immediate action and engage with in-store representatives. This level of transparency guarantees that all stakeholders can access the same insights and make coordinated decisions. On the execution side, ThirdChannel focuses on placing the right personnel in stores, providing a highly skilled workforce aligned with each brand's identity. From visual merchandising specialists to technical brand ambassadors, every store visit is done by professionals authentically representing the brand’s values and vision. .