Ace Hardware has launched Hey ARMA, an AI-powered assistant designed to support its associates with real-time information and guidance in stores nationwide. Operated through a handheld device, Hey ARMA provides associates with quick access to product knowledge, project advice and …
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Home Depot Acquires Automation Firm
The Home Depot announced it has acquired SIMPL Automation, a Waltham, Massachusetts-based automation and technology systems company. SIMPL uses advanced engineering and AI to help distribution facilities operate faster and more efficiently. Its technology furthers the company’s strategy of same-day/next-day …
Read More »Home Depot Expands AI Efforts to Shape Future of Home Improvement
The Home Depot currently offers more than a dozen AI-powered capabilities, with numerous others in development. Through new artificial intelligence tools, the company is delivering its home improvement expertise directly to millions of DIY customers and professional contractors. “Everything we …
Read More »Walmart Continues OpenAI Partnership, Shifts Shopping Experience
Walmart is reworking its approach to AI-powered shopping as OpenAI shifts ChatGPT into product discovery, showing a reset in how agentic shopping will work. Walmart began its partnership with OpenAI in October 2025 and has enabled customers to make purchases …
Read More »ECI Software Solutions Acquires Drypowder
ECI Software Solutions, Inc., announced it has acquired Drypowder, a financial technology company focused on modernizing accounts receivable, billing and digital payments for the building materials and construction industries. “Across the industries we serve, accounts receivable is often manual and …
Read More »Faster, Better, Stronger: Growth Awaits at the Newly Imagined National Hardware Show
Providing the space to source smarter and scale faster, NHS Concept to Commerce is the retail industry’s premier event connecting retailers, product development teams, wholesalers and distributors with inventors, private label partners and global factories, streamlining product discovery, supplier sourcing …
Read More »Retailer Levels Up In-Aisle Customer Service With FastQuery
Combining AI chat, task management and operations analytics—tied directly to a retailers POS inventory—FastQuery is an AI copilot built for independent home improvement retailers. FastQuery helps store associates quickly find product information like aisle numbers, price and comparable items using voice commands and …
Read More »Walmart and Google Launch AI-Powered Shopping Experience
Walmart Inc. and Google recently announced plans to launch a new shopping experience with Google Gemini. With the new experience, customers can link their Google and Walmart accounts to receive personalized recommendations from Walmart based on past online and in-store …
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