Artificial Intelligence

Retailers are urged to provide a customer experience fit for the “digital natives” of the Millennial generation, who have grown up with constant connectivity and limitless personal choice. These all-important young consumers need to be able to buy any product on earth at any time with any electronic doodad they happen to be surfing the Net with at a given moment, or so it seems.

Amazon’s Appstore selection has nearly tripled in the past year and developers continue to report strong monetization from the apps they offer in the store.

The Amazon Appstore now has more than 240,000 apps and games, and is available in nearly 200 countries and on a multitude of devices. Additionally, Amazon Coins have become widely popular, according to the online giant — customers have spent hundreds of millions of Amazon Coins on apps, games and in-app items, it said.

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- Domino's Pizza, in conjunction with Nuance Communications, is launching voice ordering for its iPhone and Android apps.

Bigcommerce, a commerce platform for growing and emerging brands, has named Tim Schulz as SVP of product management.

SAN FRANCISCO — Big Data personalization provider WibiData has launched WibiRetail, a new software platform designed for retailers to rapidly deploy algorithmically-driven personalized shopping experiences. WibiRetail provides intent-aware commerce applications that use in-the-moment data to determine whether a consumer is shopping for herself, a family member or a partner.

Retail industry veteran Tom Dowdy has joined Mobee as SVP of business development to drive growth following recent enhancements to the mobile crowdsourcing and retail intelligence platform.

Dowdy is a seasoned CPG sales and marketing executive who joins Mobee from Gigwalk where he served as general manager of retail and brands. Dowdy is well known in the retail industry for founding National In-Store in 1994 and serving as CEO until the firm was sold to Omnicom in 2007.

Mooreseville, N.C. — Lowe’s has launched Lowe’s Innovation Lab, with a goal of creating new technology to solve common consumer frustrations while working alongside start-ups, universities, specialized professionals and other companies. The first concept to come out of the lab is the Lowe's Holoroom, a home improvement simulator that applies 3D and augmented reality technologies to provide homeowners an intuitive, immersive experience in their dream rooms.

Schaumburg, Ill. — Motorola Solutions Inc. has released a personal shopping device designed to enable customers to quickly scan items with faster checkouts. The MC18 Personal Shopper is Motorola’s fifth generation personal shopping device and provides shoppers with real-time discount coupons for items they are purchasing and suggestions for complementary merchandise.