As the Covid-19 epidemic has forced many of us to retreat to our homes over the last six months, some for extended periods of time, the quality of the digital experiences available to us has become more important than ever. As our world becomes increasingly digitalised, with more products and services migrating entirely online every day, it is crucial that as many people as possible remain able to access them. One in five people in the UK currently live with an impairment that could make it difficult for them to access websites and apps, experiencing limitations in their vision, hearing, phys ..read more

Of all the areas of life that have been disrupted in the first half of 2020, one of the most affected has surely been work life. While millions of office workers have been adjusting to working remotely, essential workers have needed to adapt to scores of new rules and regulations at their workplaces as the year has progressed. Regardless of how they’ve been affected, the majority of workers have faced significant change, and this is having an unprecedented impact on employee experience. As we wrote recently, customer experience is likely to be a key differentiator for brands in the post-Covid ..read more

The continuing impact and fallouts from the largest pandemic in over a century have prompted many businesses to consider revamping various parts of their operations, including their supply chains. In response to this, we have seen a growing trend in the number of businesses investigating how implementing blockchain-powered solutions could help improve efficiencies and transparency. The ability to track the origin of raw materials with a system that is exceedingly difficult to tamper with could improve visibility, providing greater transparencies into supply chains. Moreover, blockchain-powere ..read more

After what have surely been some of the strangest few months for the retail industry in recent memory, brick-and-mortar stores are starting to re-open in many areas that have been worst-hit by Coronavirus outbreaks. Consumers and retailers alike seem enthusiastic about this return to some semblance of normality: some keen shoppers were seen piling into London’s flagship Nike store when it reopened earlier in June, and in the absence of most out-of-home entertainment options, shopping trips are becoming established as a highlight of many people’s weekly routines. The prospect of reopening is n ..read more

Tell us more about Aire! What makes your company and your vision unique? What is the main customer need Aire aims to address? Access to credit underpins so many of our life choices: renting a car, educating ourselves, buying a house – all of these rely on credit. But unfortunately, as our ways of living become more complex (multiple income streams, frequent job moves, relocations) the ability for the traditional credit bureau to keep pace with us, lessens. This isn’t the consumer’s fault, it’s a failure of an outdated credit system – a system that at Aire, we’re working hard to upgrade. The s ..read more

Corporations have a long history of applying psychological principles to make their marketing more effective. Fast food brands are famously associated with the colours red and yellow, which are commonly believed to make consumers feel hungrier and to stimulate positive emotions. There are solid psychological reasons, too, behind the popularity of adverts featuring smiling, attractive people: the emotional contagion effect makes consumers feel more at ease when they see these images, and therefore more comfortable in making big purchases. Much criticism has been levelled at organisations ..read more

When assessing applicants’ financial reliability, lenders globally have traditionally relied on a limited range of data sources. In the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Germany, creditworthiness is determined primarily based on credit scores provided by large credit reporting agencies (e.g. Experian, Equifax, SCHUFA). These scores are typically based on the applicant’s recent bank account and payment history, and his/her borrowing and repayment activity, with approval and the terms of the loan, including the loan amount and interest rate, closely tied to the applicant’s credit score. Some other co ..read more

Augmented reality (AR) is the blend of the real world and interactive digital elements, and while sounding like something from science fiction, it has become an increasingly common part of retail experiences in recent years. While in the past AR technology had a bad reputation as something that was shoehorned into marketing and customer experiences without fully being thought out – think Jack Daniels transforming their bottles into a pop-up story book explaining their manufacturing process or Chiquita, the banana company, using AR to boast about their sustainability credentials – recently, it ..read more

The current COVID-19 outbreak is starting to take its toll on the global economy, with small businesses and self-employed individuals being heavily impacted. Whilst many governments around the world have been reactive in developing and implementing initiatives to help small businesses and the self-employed, these can sadly take some time to come into force. Thankfully, some financial services providers have been proactive and quick to respond to the realities of the current pandemic. Below we highlight a collection of examples of how the industry is supporting small businesses and the self-e ..read more

The current pandemic sweeping through most of the world has wreaked havoc in most areas of the economy as well as our personal lives. As schools and businesses gradually shut down, governments plead for people to stay home to contain the spread of Covid-19. With the virus showing no sign of going away, countries could remain on lockdown for many months to come. However, as is the case with every change, among the many challenges, the pandemic might provide some industries with an opportunity. As we minimise personal contact, services offered in digital form are becoming more popular. While Net ..read more