Artificial Intelligence

Bentonville, Ark. - At an event with President Barack Obama, Walmart announced that it will double the number of on-site solar energy projects at its U.S. stores, Sam’s Clubs and distribution centers by 2020. The commitment is part of Walmart’s global initiative to drive the production or procurement of 7 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of renewable energy by the end of 2020.

New York -- Motorola Solutions has launched a new unified indoor locationing platform designed to help retailers boost customer engagement. The company’s MPact Platform for Mobile Marketing breaks new ground by using both WI-FI and Bluetooth Smart technology to engage with shoppers in store aisles by offering them customized offers and sales assistance.

Ottawa, Canada -- 360pi, a leading provider of retail price and product intelligence, announced a collaborative effort with SAS, a leader in business analytics software and services. The goal is to allow retailers who combine 360pi's competitive price intelligence with SAS' revenue optimization engine to gain full real-time visibility into competitive pricing to make more profitable pricing decisions.

San Jose, Calif. -- Software as a service search provider SLI Systems said that retailer Scarsdale, N.Y.-based Zachys Wine & Liquor has put in place SLI’s cloud services and has seen online conversions and per-visit value nearly double that of the site average.

According to SLI, Zachys saw use of its search box by visitors increase one third and is now looking to expand its use of SLI's learning-based services to include site navigation pages as a revenue-boosting strategy.

New York -- Google has purchased analytics firm Adometry, which helps advertisers get a better return on digital advertising by providing better attribution on the data collected about ads, including whether an ad was viewed, and whether it led to a sale.

Here is the statement from the Google Analytics team:

Armonk, N.Y. -- IBM has introduced comprehensive new security software and services to help organizations protect their critical data in an environment where advanced persistent threats, zero day attacks, breaches, and the financial impact on an organization continue to rise.

According to two IBM-commission studies, the average cost of a data breach increased by 15%, reaching an average of $3.5 million. The majority of companies surveyed say targeted attacks are the greatest threat, costing them on average $9.4 million in brand equity alone.

By Sunil Mirani, CEO, Ugam

Lighting plays a critical role in retail, and is rapidly evolving to meet changing regulations and customer needs. Dr. Laura Prestwood Thompson, director of the TCU Center for Lighting Education, Texas Christian University, discussed how stores and restaurants in 2025 will light their interiors and looked at the technologies and trends that will impact retail lighting during the SPECS workshop session, “Lighting 2025.”

“The quality of light is key,” Thompson said. “You create an aesthetic for your brand that impacts the customer experience.”