Microsoft

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — HSN is bringing Quick Response (QR) codes to a new shopping frontier by becoming the first retailer to use them on television.

Through Oct. 10 as part of the company's Innovation Weekend event, HSN will debut QR codes on its HD channel, which currently reaches approximately 43 million households. Customers will be able to scan the QR code of hundreds of products, the company said, giving them access the product information page on their mobile device, learn more about the product and purchase with ease.

Washington, D.C. -- The National Retail Federation has launched a year-long advocacy campaign to advance a “Jobs, Innovation and Consumer Value Agenda” on behalf of the U.S. retail industry.

Denver -- Junction Solutions said Thursday it will co-host three events on Sept. 8 to announce global launch of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.

Together with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Microsoft Business Solutions President Kirill Tatarinov and Nigel Montgomery, research director for Gartner Research, Junction Solutions will host half-day events in Cincinnati, St. Louis, and in Mountain View, Calif. 

South Denver’s Park Meadows regional mall is officially 15 years old -- and it is celebrating throughout the month of August with free community entertainment and activities, culminating in a free community pancake breakfast August 30, 2011.

Reading, England -- Tesco has committed to the Microsoft platform in an eight year, world-wide agreement. The deal is designed to enable the U.K.-based retailer to improve productivity, decision-making, knowledge sharing and operational excellence across the 14 countries in which it currently operates.

The agreement will underpin Tesco’s strategic objectives of growing its international presence; expanding its non-food business; and offering a broad selection of retail services such as banking, online and mobile. 
 

New York City -- In an address Wednesday at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in Los Angeles, COO Kevin Turner said that Microsoft hopes to open 75 freestanding Microsoft stores within the next two to three years.

“We’re going to open up to 75 more stores over the next two to three years, and continue to bring our stores outside the U.S. as well, so we’ve got a huge opportunity to get the Microsoft story out there, and we’re going to keep driving that,” Turner said.

The Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) is taking place this week (July 10 – 14) in Los Angeles, with some 15,000 from around the globe in attendance at the Staples Center. It’s a huge event, with over 100 breakout sessions each day, 22 regional keynotes and country breakouts. To kick-off the show, CEO Steve Ballmer said that, thanks to partners, Windows 7 has sold more than 400 million licenses in less than two years, and is still the fastest-selling operating system in history.

Here are some  other interesting tidbits from the conference:

Dallas -- Weiss Markets has selected Retalix's Demand-Driven Replenishment solution to optimize its overall in-stock position and reduce excess inventory and out-of-stocks in its stores.

“We wanted a system that could provide demand-based forecasting and replenishment and assist us in optimizing our inventory. Retalix's Demand-Driven Replenishment solution was the ideal fit," said Bob Mawyer, VP of information technology at Weis Markets, Sunbury, Pa., which operates 164 stores.