Artificial Intelligence

Walldorf, Germany — SAP AG plans to acquire SeeWhy, a Boston-based provider of cloud-based behavioral target marketing solutions. SAP intends the addition of SeeWhy to complement its Hybris commerce platform with one-to-one personalized marketing based on real-time customer behavior that converts customer interactions into sales.

Walmart chairman Rob Walton encouraged employees to “go for it,” and president and CEO Doug McMillon said the company would accelerate the pace of change during the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting June 6 in Fayetteville, Ark.
 

Mobile shopping, same-day delivery, and growing volumes of data from online channels are forcing retailers to a tipping point to remain competitive and better respond to evolving customer needs and preferences, according to a new research report by Capgemini Group.
 

Framingham, Mass. -- Staples announced the opening of its Development Center in downtown Seattle. One of two Staples’ west coast offices, the new center is made-up of e-commerce and engineering teams responsible for driving major initiatives to enhance areas including search, SEO and personalization.

Staples plans to open a development center in downtown Seattle, near the Pioneer Square/International District — its second in the West Coast — staffed with e-commerce and engineering teams, which will be responsible for enhancing search, SEO and personalization.

From the 156-year-old Macy’s to the online startup Zady, Fast Company’s annual ranking of “The World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Retail” shows how diverse the retail landscape had become — and the changing nature of retail innovation.

Here’s a quick recap (I’ve added some comments following Fast Company’s qualifiers):

1. WARBY PARKER: For being the Warby Parker of Warby Parkers.

Retail Solutions, a global provider of cloud-based, Big Data analytics and real-time intelligence for the consumer products industry, has selected Gigwalk, a local visibility software platform, to power its new RSi Intelligent Crowdsourcing solution.

According to the company, its new offering provides clients with end-to-end business intelligence that drives sales by delivering real-time, actionable intelligence to field operations for improved in-store retail execution and on-shelf availability.

San Francisco -- Kenshoo, a provider of predictive media optimization technology, announced the beta release of its newest digital marketing targeting solution, Intent-Driven Audiences (IDA), which matches clicks on search engine ads to audiences on Facebook in real-time. This allows marketers to show ads to consumers that have searched for specific keywords and also use Facebook’s targeting capabilities to find more customers like them.