Google, Inc.

By Dr. Gary Edwards, Empathica

Recently, online fashion retailer Piperlime announced plans to open its first brick-and-mortar location in New York City. For many, the announcement seemed to fly in the face of conventional wisdom given the competitive pricing and other advantages e-commerce providers have over traditional retailers.

Why would a successful e-tailer like Piperlime want to take on the additional cost and headaches associated with a physical store?

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — Customers looking to get their hands on the new Google tablet can now do so at Staples, as the retailer is offering the Nexus 7 for pre-sale. Nexus 7 8GB and 16GB will be available in Staples stores nationwide and at Staples.com for just $199 and $249 respectively later this month.

By Michael Moores, [email protected]

Macys.com has made a name for itself by analyzing consumer data to gain insight into its loyal shopper base. The retailer, which features more than 60,000 products online and leverages multiple digital channels to share product information cross-channel, has armed itself with a set of internal cloud-based, high-performance analytics tools designed to improve customer segmentation, market-basket analysis and real-time personalization cross-channel, based on a broader scope of product attributes.

Walmart shareholders upset by allegations of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations expressed their displeasure with the Walmart board by casting an unusually large number of negative votes against company insiders last Friday.

Several major shareholders had vowed to vote against key board members in advance of the annual shareholders’ meeting, although the move was seen as largely symbolic since the Walton family and other company insiders control a sufficient number of shares to ensure the defeat or passage of any proposal.

The steady erosion of newspaper circulations naturally has led many to predict that the printed ad circular is not much long for this world and will quickly disappear as consumers demand more digitized ads and coupons. Last year, the Associated Press, along with 32 other publishers and 30 retailers, launched iCircular to help stave off declining ad revenue.

Fort Worth, Texas -- Customer analytics firm Buxton announced it will officially launch the latest version of its real estate and analytics platform at the International Council of Shopping Centers RECon show in Las Vegas later this month.

SCOUT 3.0 is a cloud-based, data visualization and analytics tool used by executives in the retail industry to execute real estate and marketing strategies. The platform includes dashboard capabilities for C-level executives to see performance across their entire organization via mobile/tablet technology.

Woonsocket, R.I. — CVS/pharmacy is taking a greater step toward targeting the Hispanic market with the launch of its new Spanish-language website.

Like the English-language site, the Spanish version, located at http://es.cvs.com, enables shoppers to manage their prescription account, get health information, purchase products, access coupons, etc. According to a MediaPost article, Google indicated that the new CVS Spanish website consists of 67,000 pages, most of which are product SKUs.

Mooresville, N.C. -- Lowe’s Home Improvement said Tuesday that its home improvement app is now available for Android devices.

The app can be downloaded at Google Play, Google's new online store for digital media. Customers now may shop directly from the free app; access their MyLowe’s account; locate stores and view how-to videos, inspirational galleries and product ratings.

On Monday, Barnes & Noble Inc. and Microsoft announced a strategic partnership in a new unnamed Barnes & Noble subsidiary that, for the time being, is being identified as Newco. Here some comments from retail consultant Maggie Gilliam (Gilliam Insights) on the new venture: