IBM

Arsenal Park, an often overlooked historical site in Pittsburgh, is now destined to re-emerge as Arsenal 201, a residential and retail project.   Milhous Development broke ground last week on the $100 million first phase of the project, which encompasses and entire block between 39th and 49th Streets in the city’s Lawrenceville section. That was the site of the Allegheny Arsenal, a key manufacturing and supply facility for the Union Army where an 1862 explosion took the lives of 78 workers -- the largest civilian disaster of the war.

Hands down, “digital disruption” was the theme of the third annual Northwest Arkansas Technology Summit, held in Rogers, Arkansas. In line with evolving concept itself, there were many definitions of what digital disruption truly means heard throughout the event.  

If you think holograms are a thing of the future, then the future has arrived. Innovative companies are developing solutions that leverage holographic displays to attract and engage distracted customers. Another startup is riding the customization bandwagon to deliver perfectly fitting denim, while still others are offering ways to improve your loyalty program, make in-store checkout as painless as possible, and deliver consumer insights that are fresh — not five months old.

Here are some insights from IBM* regarding last year’s holiday season that retailers would do well to keep in mind as they finalize plans for holiday 2016:

1/ Make mobile a key part of your integrated customer engagement strategy. Mobile traffic and sales continue to rise year after year. Create a mobile-friendly customer journey and content for the mobile experience, using tools to enrich the channel.

2/ Optimize your website for all screens.

Boots, the U.K.-based pharmacy and beauty retailer, and IBM announced that Boots has launched Sales Assist, an IBM MobileFirst for iOS app, across its U.K. stores to make it easier for customers to find the products they need.   Sales Assist is one of the 100-plus enterprise-focused apps that IBM has produced in collaboration with Apple for iPhone and iPad, aimed at a range of specific industries and professions.  

Consumers will have a new, convenient way of making online purchases this fall.   In conjunction with the release of the new iOS10 operating system, Apple late on Monday announced that an online version of its Apple Pay digital payment service will be available to Mac device users in fall 2016. Up until this point, consumers could only complete Internet transactions using Apple Pay through a mobile app.  

Over the past decade or so, we’ve watched as consumers have increasingly turned to e-commerce to make their purchases, and more segments of the retail sector — from apparel to grocery — have set up shop online to meet demand.