Microsoft

By Alex Brown, CEO, 10th Magniture

I certainly don’t have to tell you that the 2013 holiday retail season is upon us, since you’ve probably had to plan your technology all year to handle the imminent spikes in in-store and online traffic. And, in just a couple of weeks, you’ll start planning your technology budget for 2014’s holiday season.

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Chef Boyardee is driving sales by partnering with Microsoft to offer customers a chance to win the highly coveted Xbox One.

Five daily winners will be selected between now and Feb. 18, 2014. Participants must visit www.winwithchef.com and enter the eight-digit code found on specially marked cans and microwave cups of Chef Boyardee.

Redmond, Wash. -- Canadian pharmacy retailer The Jean Coutu Group Inc. has selected Microsoft Dynamics for Retail to manage all its retail operations, from its headquarters down to the point-of-sale devices in stores. Jean Coutu will deploy Microsoft Dynamics to more than 400 stores, 3,000 POS systems and 11,500 devices with implementation to start in 2014.

Virtual Piggy has appointed Sébastien Motte to lead business development in the gaming sector.

One of the biggest benefits omni-channel retailers can offer consumers is ease of finding products. But without a fast, accurate and intuitive site search capability, this benefit quickly becomes theoretical rather than an actual competitive differentiator.

Gigwalk has made a major upgrade to its platform that involves new higher skilled, higher paid “Gigs” (jobs on the Gigwalk app) and free training programs based on worker certifications. The move makes Gigwalk the only mobile work marketplace that allows workers to advance their careers through special courses and certifications.

Newegg, a leading electronics-focused e-retailer in the U.S., has kicked off this year’s Black November shopping event. The online retailer first unveiled Black November in 2010.

The company will be offering exclusive deals on the first four days of Black November across 60 categories, including computers, electronics, automotive, sporting goods and jewelry.

Quantum Retail Technology, a retail-focused supply chain management and inventory optimization software solutions provider, has named Mark Halverson as the company’s VP of professional services.

Halverson will oversee the full range of Quantum Retail's client program management, solution deployment and delivery, support and management of client partnerships during the implementation cycles.

St. Louis -- Build-A-Bear Workshop plans an in-store shop in the FAO Schwarz  Fifth Avenue flagship in Manhattan. Opening in early November, the location is the first Build-A-Bear Workshop store-within-a-store in the United States. (FAO Schwarz is owned by Toys “R” Us.)