Retail

Ottawa, Canada - 360pi has unveiled the latest generation of its 360comparables solution targeted to address private label brands. This release augments 360pi’s attribute-based matching algorithm with the option for customer-controlled product matching.

Mountain View, Calif. - Airtight Networks, which provides in-store WiFi analytics such as how long customers stay and shop, how often they come in and marketing campaign effectiveness, is partnering with Frontera Consulting to package social media and retail intelligence capabilities with the Airtight platform. The new solution offers WiFi-based brand lifecycle management.

Chicago -- Consumer confidence rose significantly in the first quarter of 2014, according to a MarketPulse survey from IRI. All age groups are reporting a more positive outlook — especially Millennials. A distressed consumer segment since the economic downturn began, this age group is showing the greatest rise in confidence.

Deerfield Park, Ill. - Walgreens is launching the 2014 Walgreens Way to Well Health Tour with AARP. For six years, Walgreens and AARP have conducted the community outreach program dedicated to providing free preventive and early detection health services to communities across the country.

New York -- Amazon has opened a Wearable Technology store on its website, which it describes as a one-stop shop where customers can discover the latest in wearable technology and research wearable devices including activity trackers, smart watches and wearable cameras.

Waban, Mass. – Grocery chain H.E.B. tied with the banking business of financial services provider USAA for the top spot in consumer forgiveness. Based on a study of 10,000 U.S consumers, the two companies both came in first in the 2014 Temkin Forgiveness Ratings, which rates 268 companies across 19 industries.

IBM and digital commerce firm Fluid are collaborating on Fluid Expert Shopper (XPS), an app made with the IBM Watson artificial intelligence platform. Fluid XPS lets consumers ask highly specific questions, as they would a sales associate in a store, and receive personalized advice. The app will take advantage of Watson’s abilities to understand and learn from natural language, meaning it will engage in human-like conversations and provide product recommendations that take the context of customer questions into account.

San Diego -- Petco has named Larry Rutkowski as executive VP and CFO. Prior to joining Petco, Rutkowski served as  executive VP and CFO for The Warnaco Group, an American textile and clothing corporation, and Primedia, a consumer advertising, new media and publishing company, both in New York.

Previously, he also held senior financial leadership positions at General Electric and Walt Disney Company.