Artificial Intelligence

Crate and Barrel is taking its omnichannel experience into its own hands.   The home furnishings chain is the latest retailer to join forces with Infor to co-develop the Infor CloudSuite Retail, a suite of application offerings that can be tailored to an individual retailer’s needs. The software prod-uct is designed to deliver superior interactions for store associates and consumers.   

Retail in 2016 had its share of ups and downs. While several major businesses filed for bankruptcy, others in the category saw incredible growth, leveraging technology to connect with customers in new and exciting ways. For instance, Walmart tripled its online catalog and opened more stores that allow shoppers to pick up online orders in-person. In an often-cluttered retail landscape, Walmart and others have shown that technology can be a key differentiator.   

Walmart has made some big changes in its executive ranks, bringing together management of its Web and retail teams.     The changes, which the chain has not officially announced, come on the heels of media reports that Karenann Terrell would step down as CIO of Wal-Mart Stores on Feb. 24. As reported by CNBC.com, Walmart’s executive realignment includes the following:  

In their e-commerce operations, retailers have long had access to limitless data about customers and transactions. They’ve become adept at using this information to deliver personalized communications and targeted campaigns to customers as they shop online.    Unfortunately, the same could not be said for in-store shopping. Retailers have had no way of knowing what customers were doing in their stores from the time they entered the front door until they checked out at the POS system.  

Move over Alibaba — Amazon has a new jobs plan too, one with more details and a more immediate window of opportunity.   

Omnichannel is so 2016, with mPOS, staff handhelds/wearables, camera analytics, interactive mirrors with AI, chatbots, and VR already shaping up as this year’s overused retail tech buzzwords.   At least that's according to ABI Research, whose new report outlines important trends — including 3D sensing — that it believes, while still under the radar, should be top priorities on retailers' technology agendas as they move toward a “smart” retail future.    

Target is bringing back its retail accelerator program for a second round.   On the heels of the first Target + Techstars retail accelerator, the retailer said it has opened applications for a second round of the program yesterday, inviting retail-specific tech startups worldwide to apply for a chance to relocate to Minneapolis and embed themselves at Target.  

A new partnership is giving Discover card users more flexibility and security at point-of-sale.   An agreement between Discover Financial Services (DFS) and PayPal allows U.S.-based PayPal customers to use Discover at all contactless-enabled merchants that accept the card. Discover cards will be presented as a payment option within the PayPal wallet, making accounts easily identifiable to card members when paying.