Google, Inc.

Mountain View, Calif. – Google Inc. has unveiled its expanded office in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The 300,000-sq.-ft. campus, in the Kendall Square neighborhood, combines space in three buildings previously occupied by Google into one connected campus with a combined 12 floors of office and work space.

The office spreads across one whole building and parts of the other two. It features a public rooftop garden, and a private one for Google employees, along with an employee café offering free meals.

By Bill Davis, Director, MB&G Consulting

For much of the last year, traditional brick-and-mortar retailers have been mired in a slump. Not only was last holiday season the toughest in several years, the consumer discretionary sector, which includes retail, was the only one of the 10 macro S&P sectors to be in the red for the first half of 2014. As a result, retail is widely perceived to be in a funk.

Charlottesville, Va. - Smartphones generated 19% of paid search clicks and 9% of search spend in second quarter 2014, while tablets produced 18% of clicks and 19% of spend. According to the Q2 Digital Marketing Report from RKG, which surveyed retailers in its client base, cross-device tracking surfaces 7% more orders overall, but 14% more smartphone orders.

While smartphones produce 12% of traditionally tracked conversions, they contribute nearly 25% of cross-device orders.

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Fujitsu is partnering with OnCue Technologies, a developer of in-aisle point-of-information solutions, to resell OnCue Technologies' InfoCue and Expert OnCue mini-kiosk solutions to big-box, grocery, beverage and hardware retailers in the U.S. OnCue Technologies' cloud-based, customizable mini kiosks enable retailers to deliver expert advice and product information to customers in the aisle without requiring employee training.

San Francisco - DHgate.com, an e-commerce marketplace focused on cross-border trade of Chinese goods, has hired several new executives. These include COO Noah Herschmann, who previously held management roles at Amazon, Groupon, Asia, Staples China and Tweeter.

Atlanta – Following Staples’ expansion of its Staples Connect home and office automation platform to 500 stores, The Home Depot is making Wink-enabled connected home products available for purchase in its nearly 2,000 U.S. stores and online.

San Francisco — Aisle411 on Wednesday announced a new functionality that will allow retail shoppers using Google’s Project Tango to search and navigate to product locations while getting rewarded in retail environments in a revolutionary new way.

The Finish Line takes omnichannel approach to ‘March Madness’

Athletic footwear retailer The Finish Line offers a highly seasonal assortment.