Artificial Intelligence

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Wal-Mart Stores is in search of a new head of its global ecommerce and global sourcing businesses now that Eduardo Castro-Wright announced his retirement effective July 1, 2012. Walmart said it intends to name new leadership for these businesses by the end of January, after which Castro-Wright will assist in the transition.

New York City -- Duane Reade said Monday it has added Smith Electric Vehicles' Newton zero-emission, all-electric commercial trucks to its delivery fleet.

With the addition of these medium-duty trucks, Duane Reade is the first retail pharmacy in the United States to choose fleet electrification through a pilot program with Smith Electric Vehicles, a global supplier of zero-emission, all-electric commercial vehicles.

By Richard Hearn, CEO, Crown Partners

San Diego -- IBM on Tuesday at its Smarter Commerce Global Summit announced three new cloud and on-premise offerings designed to help organizations respond automatically to shifting consumer business trends.

BRISBANE, Calif. — Wal-Mart Stores marked a major investment in social media and marketing with the announcement Wednesday that its technology unit @WalmartLabs has acquired mobile and social advertising firm OneRiot. 

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores said Wednesday that its technology unit, @WalmartLabs, has acquired Boulder, Colo.-based mobile and social advertising firm OneRiot.

OneRiot’s technology will become part of WalmartLabs’ mobile and social shopping efforts, allowing the retailer to hone its social media skills and develop a variety of shopping and retail-related applications.
 

New York City -- For every $100 in fraudulent transactions, retailers incurred a “true” cost of $230, according to a new study released Tuesday by LexisNexis Risk Solutions.

According to the study, retail merchants and financial institutions reported an overall decline in fraud rates and transactions while total retail sales rose. Consumers also experienced a decline in fraud losses overall but the average time it took to resolve fraud issues rose by 57% and the out-of-pocket costs of fraud rose by $244.