Artificial Intelligence

Membership buying club DirectBuy is taking its direct sales model to a new level of directness. The retailer has launched the My DirectBuy mobile app.

The iOS and Android app allows DirectBuy to search for products, browse promotions, and place and track orders on the companion My DirectBuy website.

When it comes to keeping supply chain and logistics operations as efficient as possible, retailers are getting smart. Using centralized cloud platforms and business intelligence solutions, merchants can achieve real-time inventory awareness and supply chain operational data that improves overall front- and back-end performance.

Here are three examples:

Gap

The best means of online fraud remediation is to flag and prevent fraudulent transactions before they are processed. But what are the telltale signs of a fraudulent account?

A new infographic from antifraud software provider Sift Science highlights some common risk factors retailers should look out for. For example, if three other accounts share a shipping address, it is four times more likely to be fraudulent. If two other accounts share the same credit card, it is five times more risky.

Walmart has returned to its acquisitive ways in Silicon Valley with the purchase of PunchTab, a four-year old company with talent and technology to help the retailer’s Sam’s Club division better personalize offers.

Jeremy King, head of WalmartLabs, and Jamie Iannone, president and CEO of Samsclub.com announced the deal to acquire PunchTab in a joint statement on the @WalmartLabs site. The deal involves the purchase of PunchTab’s and six employees who will join WalmartLabs including founder Mehdi Ait Oufkir.

Don’t assume that the layoff of 275 IT employees in August 2015 by Target Corp. means the retailer is reducing its focus on in-house technology operations. According to the Wall Street Journal, the layoffs actually set the stage for a big push away from IT outsourcing and toward hiring 1,000 new global technology workers.

Usually retailers are not pleased when hackers get into their systems, but Walmart Stores Inc. is very happy with three hackers in particular. Walmart will test a new SMS-based customer service tool that won a recent Walmart Labs-sponsored “hackathon.”

Flipkart, a leading Indian online marketplace, is naming three new technology executives with experience at some major global retail and IT firms.

A leading pizza chain is testing beacon technology – in stores in China.

Yum Brands subsidiary Pizza Hut is using devices from global beacon technology provider Sensoro at all 1,471 locations in mainland China through Sept. 23.

Key forecasting metrics have remained essentially flat for five years, but one emerging technology offers retailers the chance for improvement. According to the sixth annual Forecasting Benchmark Study from supply chain software provider Terra Technology, companies using sensing demand systems consistently double overall forecast value-add and reduce error by 37%.

Target Corp., which has operated a proprietary innovation lab in San Francisco since 2013, is eyeing a more outward-focused approach to innovation. Target is partnering with startup accelerator Techstars to open a new retail accelerator program in its hometown of Minneapolis.