Artificial Intelligence

Profitect, a leading pattern seeking analytics provider for the retail industry, has added Ahold USA as its latest customer. Profitect is rolled out in Ahold's Giant Landover division.

Ahold USA will leverage Profitect's integrated data to improve its shrink performance by replacing legacy reporting approaches, which require large volumes of information to be interpreted, with automated resolution processes. The Profitect closed loop system creates accountability, the company said, by ensuring employees identify and resolve opportunities impacting the business.

New York – Verizon Enterprise Solutions has recently introduced a location-based service that will allow retail organizations to offer real-time benefits to their customers, such as proximity-based specials and fraud detection. Verizon Location Data Services, powered by Locaid, is available now to enterprise retail clients in the U.S.

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. has formed a Digital Advisory Council as part of its efforts to accelerate its digital transformation. Target said the council will help guide the retailer’s omnichannel strategies and push it to innovate faster, and discover new ways to leverage technology to enhance the shopper experience – both online and in stores.

By Sebastien Taveau, Chief Evangelist, Synaptics

From ancient bartering, to the first coin, to the first paper currency, to the first mobile payment, it’s easy to provide a linear view of how the payment process has evolved.

Target has formed a digital advisory council as part of its efforts to accelerate its digital transformation. The company will look to the panel of technology industry leaders to help guide its omnichannel strategies.

The council includes experts with varied tech backgrounds, and includes Ajay Agarwal, managing director of Bain Capital Ventures; Amy Chang, CEO/co-founder of Accompani, former head of Google Analytics; Roger Liew, chief technology officer of Orbitz Worldwide; and Sam Yagan, CEO of the Match Group and CEO/founder of OkCupid.

New York -- Doug McMillon, CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, said the company plans to ramp up the company's pace of partnerships and acquisitions as part of a broader strategy to better compete with digital rivals, Bloomberg reported.  

“We’ve been more acquisitive lately, especially for talent,” McMillon said, according to the report. “And our pace of acquisitions, I think, is going to accelerate.”

Thorofare, N.J. - Checkpoint Systems, Inc. is launching its next generation of intelligent electronic article surveillance (EAS) solutions. The Evolve iRange comprises six different EAS antennas, a broad range of EAS labels designed for visible and source-tagging application to various types of merchandise, and the Counterpoint iD deactivation unit for faster and consistent deactivation at point-of-sale (POS).

A recent Infosys Rethinking Retail Survey found that 86% of consumers who have experienced personalization technology while shopping have admitted that it has influenced their purchasing decisions. Moreover, 69% of consumers responded to the study stating that consistency of customer service across physical and online stores was of importance to them.