A 2022 study by researchers at McGill Desautels revealed that when shoppers were offered a promotion that gave them a choice between a healthy snack and a pastry with their coffee, sales of healthy snacks increased by more than 1000%.
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Published on: 11 Dec 2024
Congratulations to our winning teams of the Bensadoun School’s 2nd annual Retail Gen AI Hackathon.
We had 38 student teams register representing diverse faculties across McGill University. Over two days, 10 finalist teams hacked creative Gen AI solutions for our title sponsor ALDO Group.
Each team had an AWS mentor and access to support from IVADO Labs and DataSphere Lab team members.
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Published on: 10 Oct 2024
AI has become an omnipresent topic of discussion in our daily lives, both professionally and personally. While much has been written on the challenges, risks, and pitfalls of AI (and the strong need to regulate its development and deployment carefully), it's also important to highlight its numerous benefits and positive impacts on society and the economy.
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Published on: 11 Sep 2024
Montreal’s long-awaited luxury shopping mall Royalmount officially opened on September 5. The project, which spans 800,000 square feet, and features stores like Gucci, Versace, and Louis Vuitton, aims to attract diverse shoppers from all walks of life with an “inclusive luxury” concept. While excitement is high, concerns exist over traffic and accessibility.
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Published on: 6 Sep 2024
Generative artificial intelligence promises to transform the way business is done, but in most industries, it’s still unclear exactly how it will be used. Footwear retailer ALDO is working with Montreal’s cluster of AI talent to explore how to leverage this emerging technology. In October 2023, ALDO staged its first Retail Gen AI Hackathon in partnership with the Bensadoun School of Retail Management and Amazon Web Services. The event offered over $10,000 in prizes to teams that worked collaboratively to devise generative AI solutions to real world retail challenges.
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Published on: 25 Jul 2024
Gym memberships come with varying price tags and fee structures that can be confusing. Often, a membership contract can come with unanticipated charges. In addition to monthly fees, some charge for signing up, cancellation costs, and annual dues, which is why it is important to do research before signing up, according to Bensadoun School of Retail Management Executive Director Charles de Brabant. “You don’t necessarily understand the natural pitfalls until you fall into them,” he tells The Globe and Mail.
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Published on: 15 Jul 2024
The rise of e-commerce decimated the business of department store chains, with names like Nordstrom pulling out of Canada altogether. But, department store chain Simons recently announced it is opening two new stores in Toronto. The Quebec City-headquartered retailer has slimmed-down offerings, with no in-store furniture sales or fragrance counters and lots of private label clothing brands.
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Published on: 9 Jul 2024
From Walmart to Amazon to Shopify, the retail sector is big business and incredibly important for the economy. However, there is little retail-specific education available, according to Charles de Brabant, Executive Director of the Bensadoun School of Retail Management (BSRM), in an interview with Paula Macaggi for the OFFbounds podcast.
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Published on: 13 Jun 2024
This year, the DataSphere Lab was privileged to welcome two exceptional students through the Integrated Management Student Fellowship (IMSF) program: Chloe You, a third year student studying Finance and Statistics, and Ruo-Ying, a Business Analytics major.
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Published on: 2 May 2024
McGill University’s Master of Management in Retailing (MMR) students have returned from an enlightening journey through Dubai's dynamic retail landscape. Led by industry experts, the week-long study trip provided unparalleled insights into retail strategy and innovation in the Gulf region.
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Published on: 26 Apr 2024
The online marketplace Temu, launched in 2022, has become one of the most downloaded apps in North America. The platform is known for ultra-low prices, though the quality and safety of the products it sells are sometimes suspect. “If I understand their business model correctly, they sell products at a loss, and make money from the data they collect,” said Bensadoun School of Retail Management (BSRM) Executive Director Charles de Brabant in an interview with Radio-Canada.
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Published on: 14 Mar 2024
Lingerie retailer La Vie en Rose operates in 20 countries, but they haven’t expanded to the neighbouring United States – until now. The Montreal-headquartered company is opening three stores in New York state, with an eye cast toward operating nationwide one day. But with a more crowded market for lingerie in the United States, they’re taking a cautious approach.
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Published on: 20 Feb 2024
Generative AI has recently garnered significant attention, yet many individuals possess only a superficial understanding of the technology, as outlined by Professor Maxime Cohen in an open letter published in Le Devoir. Co-authored with Pierre Graff, Marie-Chantal Leduc, and Bertrand Milot, the letter emphasizes the necessity for businesses to enhance their comprehension of what AI can offer and what it cannot.
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Published on: 6 Feb 2024
We live in an age of information, and we’re able to obtain it through many different channels. During disasters, many people turn to social media, and there is an orthodoxy in the field of crisis communications that organizations should speak in a consistent voice across different accounts and platforms. But Changseung Yoo is challenging that notion.
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Published on: 30 Jan 2024
Big businesses are deploying artificial intelligence to streamline their supply chains, cut labour costs, and better understand their customers. For small- and medium-sized enterprises, keeping pace can be a daunting task.
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Published on: 30 Jan 2024
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