Artificial Intelligence

Plug and Play helps bring together retailers and startups who offer specific technology and expertise that can relieve their pain points. In each issue of our Customer Disruption e-newsletter, we will provide you a brief Q&A with the CEO of a Plug and Play startup, explaining how their company assists retailers in succeeding in today’s disruptive customer environment.

This week’s CEO Corner features three questions with Judd Ferrer, CEO of Sparkle.

What does your company do?

By Christoph Stehmann, Pitney Bowes

Imagine that it’s a breezy Friday morning and tonight is your nephew’s birthday party. It’s completely slipped your mind, and there just isn’t time in your day to go shopping. However, you’re not stricken with panic, because this solution is routine. You go online, find the hottest toy, and hit Amazon Prime Air. You quickly hop in the shower, scarf down a breakfast, and on your way out the door, a small “Octocopter” is touching down on your doorstep to save your day.

Silver Hill, N.J. - Technology company Edgagement, LLC has released a cloud-based mobile training platform that creates product knowledge forums and modules for informing sales associates. Edgagement measures and scores a selling partner's product knowledge, and delivers actionable responses based on those engagements.

New York - SmartFocus has acquired beacon technology specialist TagPoints and social media analytics provider Content Savvy as part of its strategy to develop the U.K.'s first omnichannel digital marketing system. Its platform now offers customer engagement and analytics capabilities across all media channels, so clients can gain deeper insight into consumer behavior.

As the initial burst of hype over the Apple Pay mobile payment platform (and the glitchy live feed of its announcement, U2’s surprise new digital album release and chic style of the “Scarf Guy)” fades, it’s time to take a more in-depth look at the merits of the platform. While Apple Pay will probably not obliterate the market for traditional wallets or competing digital wallet solutions, it does possess some unique competitive advantages that should make Apple Pay a major factor in the world of mobile commerce.

New York -- Wal-Mart Stores has no plans to join Apple’s newly-announced mobile payments system, Apple Pay, which is due to launch in October.

Wal-Mart is supporting a retailer-owned mobile technology group, the Merchant Customer Exchange, which is launching its own mobile wallet application. The application, called CurrentC, is now in pilot and is expected to be rolled out nationwide in 2015, according to The Washington Post.  Best Buy is also among the retailers supporting CurrentC.
   

Atlanta – The program used to steal credit card data in the recent cyber attack on The Home Depot Inc. is reportedly not the same program used in the 2013 cyber attack on Target. According to Bloomberg, the malware used against Home Depot, FrameworkPOS, operates by impersonating a McAfee antivirus agent.

New York – Foot Locker Inc. is partnering with crowdsourced delivery service Deliv to offer shoppers on its Footlocker.com website the option to have their purchases delivered same-day. Leveraging Deliv's Application Programming Interface (API), which connects directly into the Footlocker.com website, shoppers can now select same-day or next day delivery for $5.

By Gary Lee, CEO, InReality

Webrooming, showrooming ... I'm guilty of it all. Surprised? You shouldn't be. After all, it is all about me, the everywhere consumer, and my super power ... the power to choose. I can shop in-store, but I can also, just as easily, shop online; my only concern is that my needs and expectations are met.

PunchTab, a leading omnichannel engagement and insights platform, has appointed Mike Mansbach as the company’s next CEO.

The platform considers Mansbach to be a results-driven go-to-market executive who successfully led the global sales and client services team for the SaaS Division at Citrix.