Retailers have been looking for a way to streamline the check out process for decades. With the advent of RFID, it was believed that that vision was about to take a big step forward. Shoppers could fill their baskets, swipe a credit card om the way out, and they would be charged instantly and accurately due to this new technology. Amazon looked at the approach and decided they needed a new way. They approached it the way I imagine Elon Musk of...

Retailers love the web.

Besides the obvious revenue benefits, a retailer can learn so much from e-commerce shoppers. By examining user navigation, abandoned shopping carts, clicks, and time spent on a web page, the reviews and product ratings tell a meaningful story.

In a brick and mortar environment, there are fitting room statistics, pinging of phones for traffic analysis and the “old school” people counters at the front door.

But what do we know about the customers reaction to their experience? What are they appreciating and what is their opinion of your store? Where is the like button for their in-store involvement?

  Data scientists can take a lesson from Abraham Wald. Wald is a perfect example of how data problems require equal portions of creativity and science. As a young mathematician educated in Vienna in the early 1900’s, Wald was forced to flee to the U.S. prior to the outbreak of  war.  Aside from being a brilliant mathematician, and a world authority on probability theory, he had a unique way of approaching data problems. He was a...