IBM

Armonk, N.Y. – IBM has released new industry-specific solutions with pre-built predictive analytics capabilities for industries including retail, to uncover and act on critical business insights. IBM is working with retail signature design partners including Urban Outfitters.

We are living in the age of instant gratification. Heightened consumer expectations are putting overwhelming pressure on retailers to engage with each customer in real-time across every touchpoint. Increasingly, this means getting products in their customer’s hands whenever, wherever and however they want it. But it can be hard to deliver on these new fulfilment options – such as click-and-collect or same-day delivery – with traditional distribution infrastructures.

Armonk, N.Y. – IBM Inc. is making new investments in Sellpoints and WayBlazer to advance online shopping and travel apps powered by Watson. The investments are part of IBM's $100 million commitment to drive new innovations and business solutions that build on Watson.

New York -- Mother’s Day is turning into a goldmine for online retailers. Overall U.S. retail online sales for the week leading up to Mother's Day rose more than 15% compared to the same period last year, according to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark. Mobile traffic accounted for 46.3% all online traffic, up more than 21% compared to last year. Mobile sales saw strong growth, up more than 43%, reaching over 24.4% of all online sales.

New York -- Mother’s Day is turning into a goldmine for online retailers. Overall U.S. retail online sales for the week leading up to Mother's Day rose more than 15% compared to the same period last year, according to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark. Mobile traffic accounted for 46.3% all online traffic, up more than 21% compared to last year. Mobile sales saw strong growth, up more than 43%, reaching over 24.4% of all online sales.
 

London – U.K. home and garden retailer Homebase is using IBM Commerce to provide more personalized shopping experiences by integrating in-store, online and mobile channels.

As a result, Homebase has achieved double-digit sales growth in all digital sales channels and a 30% increase in online visitors. With more than 40% of its customers now visiting online, Homebase collaborated with IBM to help redesign how its digital channels could offer more help, advice and inspiration.

Armonk, N.Y. - IBM is releasing new design and analytics features as part of IBM marketing cloud to enable brands to address the rising complexity marketers face engaging with customers as individuals. These new capabilities from IBM enable marketers to collaborate, design and deliver customer experiences with a focus on personalization.

Expanded analytics and design capabilities in IBM marketing cloud can be deployed as an integrated solution or as individual offerings. They include:

The theme of SAP’s annual Sapphire conference, in Orlando, Florida, was “Run Simple.” SAP focused on how its HANA business intelligence platform and growing number of HANA-powered applications can assist companies with the complicated task of creating simple enterprises that run on real-time data.

However, underneath the SAP-specific information was a lot of more general insight into how IT is disrupting the way businesses operate and engage their customers. Following are three insights with particular relevance for retailers.