Artificial Intelligence

Detecting Costly Refrigerant Leaks
An average food retail store leaks an estimated 25% estimated of its refrigerant supply per year. The majority of refrigerant leaks, which are caused by a number of factors, occur in racks and cases. For an individual store, this loss can add up to a sizeable annual expense; for a regional or national chain, the costs can be even more substantial. Additionally, associated labor costs and the potential loss of business because of service disruptions when fixing a leak should be factored in.
Pinterest ramps up shopping efforts — and adds some cool new tools
Pinterest is making it easier for consumers to shop and buy on its site. The company, which claims 100 million monthly users, on Tuesday unveiled a collection of new tools, called “Shopping with Pinterest,” that includes visual search technology that lets people search for similar items shown featured in a pin (post).

Specialty wine retailer applies data to new channel

Wine Riot, an online resource and event creator for wine aficionados, is entering the brick-and-mortar space with some analytical assistance. Created by Second Glass, a Boston-based wine event provider, Wine Riot provides online data about wine and also serves as a digital platform supporting in-person wine tasting events and exhibitions. As the company prepares to open its first physical store in Boston, it is deploying the RetailNext analytics solution.
Amazon brings more products to customer fingertips

Amazon.com is continuing to expand its assortment of Dash buttons.
How to Unlock the Value of Your Boomer Associates

Every seven seconds, a Baby Boomer turns 50. Boomers represent a substantial and critical employee demographic for retailers. The retail trade industry in the U.S. employs 15 million people, or nearly 10% of the workforce, and approximately 38% of this workforce is over the age of 50.
Cool technologies at Wayfair Next innovation lab

I recently had the opportunity to visit the Wayfair Next innovation lab at Wayfair’s downtown Boston headquarters. My genial hosts, Wayfair co-founder Steven Conine and Wayfair Next director Mike Festa, explained the lab’s mission and let me demo some very cool technologies.
New e-commerce platform seeks to reshape women’s apparel shopping

Determining if an online clothing purchase will fit properly is a challenge for many women. Launched in May 2016, e-commerce site Fovo curates apparel selections that are tailored to female shoppers’ specific body shapes. “The way forward is personalization,” said Fovo cofounder Kiana Anvaripour in a Chain Store Age interview. We want to help women optimize the experience of shopping online for apparel so the ‘endless scroll’ doesn’t exist.”
TechBytes: Cool technologies at Wayfair Next innovation lab

I recently had the opportunity to visit the Wayfair Next innovation lab at Wayfair’s downtown Boston headquarters. My genial hosts, Wayfair co-founder Steven Conine and Wayfair Next director Mike Festa, explained the lab’s mission and let me demo some very cool technologies.
Q&A: Wayfair travels ahead of the IT curve

Chain Store Age recently visited Wayfair Next, the in-house innovation lab in the Boston headquarters of online home furnishings retailer Wayfair Inc.

Steven Conine, co-founder of Wayfair and Mike Festa, director of Wayfair Next, discussed the lab’s mission and the importance of innovation in retail.
Apple stores add cool new summer class for kids

Apple is training the next generation of coders — in its stores. The company is expanding its Apple Camp workshops to include a course designed to teach children the basics of coding, Techcrunch reported. The “Coding Games and Programming Robots” course, open to children ages 8 to 12, will also allow kids to program Sphero robots.
Target staffs up for top-secret project

Target Corp. is continuing to hire tech experts for its ultra-secret “Goldfish” project, with the newest recruit being the former chief technology officer of sports news website Bleacher Report. The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reported that Sam Parnell has joined Target with a title of VP of innovation, and be based in the company’s office in Sunnyvale, California.
Walmart cutting 1,500 back-office jobs — but associates not being laid off

Walmart is trimming administrative positions in some 500 stores in the West. According to multiple media reports, the discount giant will cut three backroom accounting and invoicing positions at each store, for a total of 1,500 jobs. Affected employees will not be laid off, but instead offered front-of-store roles such as pharmacy technician or assisting pickups of online orders. Invoicing tasks will be shifted to corporate headquarters in Arkansas, while accounting functions will be automated.