Artificial Intelligence

By John M. Pierre, Linguastat    The single greatest challenge that retailers face today is to have an individualized “conversation” with each customer and to do so on a global scale. Consumers expect a similar personalized experience regardless of channel, from the marketing offers they receive to the products that appear in search results.  

Atlanta –- In addition to obtaining data from 56 million payment cards between April and Sept. 2014, hackers who infiltrated the network of The Home Depot Inc. also obtained the email addresses of 53 million customers.   In a statement on its website, the retailer said the files containing the email addresses, which were separate from the payment card files, did not contain passwords or other sensitive information, but customers should still be on guard against phishing scams.

Robert Bacchi, Choice Logistics’ SVP of information systems has been named the company’s EVP and chief information officer. Bacchi will continue to report to Michael Katz, CEO of Choice.

 

The U.S. Department of Energy has named the ASHRAE/IES 90.1-2013 energy standard as the new national energy reference standard, superseding the 2010 version in effect until then.

Within two years, all states must put into effect a commercial building energy code at least as stringent as the 2013 version of 90.1, or justify why they cannot comply.

The updated standard pays particular attention to lighting controls, with more stringent requirements, including*:

 

Retailers are well aware that good lighting is critical to visually rendering and calling attention to merchandise, including the role of color rendering. Light is made up of colors. For us to see an object as blue, that color must be present in the object and the light itself.

Most electric white-light sources don’t produce light with a balanced color spectrum, however. They’re manufactured with varying relative intensities of colors. This choice provides control of color appearance of the light source and how objects in the space appear.

 

By Paul Rauker

 

 

The POS landscape is rapidly changing due to the emergence of disruptive technologies, such as self-checkout, mobile devices and pay by touch. However, the traditional hardware-based approach to POS is still alive and well, and should be for the foreseeable future.

Newtown Square, Penn. –- SAP has released the Bilt mobile app, which provides interactive, 3D, voice-guided assembly, repair and installation instructions in application for iOS and Android tablets. Bilt digitally enables consumers to find the product best fit for them and assemble it as quickly and easily as possible.   

By Kent Smith, Galleria RTS   Well-stocked shelves and falling sales is a dilemma faced by many retailers today. New technology advancements such as mobile discount apps are the latest threat to grocery retail sales. Many people simply complete their grocery shopping from the convenience of their own home.    

Eversight, the provider of cloud-based software has partnered with Periscope, a McKinsey Solution, to bring promotion “Offer Innovation” to the retailers and consumer goods manufacturers in the U.S. and abroad.

Through this partnership, Periscope and Eversight will deliver a comprehensive set of software and service solutions which enable companies to innovate in-store promotions by digitally testing unique offers with real shoppers.