Artificial Intelligence

Silicon Valley saw some drama late Monday when PayPal announced that president David Marcus was leaving to lead Facebook’s messaging products.

The split was amicable with eBay president and CEO John Donahoe wishing Marcus well at Facebook.

Portland, Ore. — Between 60 and 80% of mobile device users commonly allow mobile location-sharing, with an average location opt-in rate of 62%. According to a study from mobile relationship management software provider Urban Airship, 51% of mobile device users also opt into push notifications.

Opting into both location and push notifications are necessary in order to receive messages based on beacon proximity, current location or location history.

Walldorf, Germany — SAP AG plans to acquire SeeWhy, a Boston-based provider of cloud-based behavioral target marketing solutions. SAP intends the addition of SeeWhy to complement its Hybris commerce platform with one-to-one personalized marketing based on real-time customer behavior that converts customer interactions into sales.

Mobile shopping, same-day delivery, and growing volumes of data from online channels are forcing retailers to a tipping point to remain competitive and better respond to evolving customer needs and preferences, according to a new research report by Capgemini Group.
 

Walmart served up dozens of its top executives to the media this week for two days of store tours and briefings in advance of the company’s shareholders meeting, which began Friday, June 6 at 7 a.m. What follows are 10 key takeaways and select nuggets from the meetings before the meeting.
 

Walmart chairman Rob Walton encouraged employees to “go for it,” and president and CEO Doug McMillon said the company would accelerate the pace of change during the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting June 6 in Fayetteville, Ark.
 

From the 156-year-old Macy’s to the online startup Zady, Fast Company’s annual ranking of “The World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Retail” shows how diverse the retail landscape had become — and the changing nature of retail innovation.

Here’s a quick recap (I’ve added some comments following Fast Company’s qualifiers):

1. WARBY PARKER: For being the Warby Parker of Warby Parkers.

Framingham, Mass. -- Staples announced the opening of its Development Center in downtown Seattle. One of two Staples’ west coast offices, the new center is made-up of e-commerce and engineering teams responsible for driving major initiatives to enhance areas including search, SEO and personalization.

Staples plans to open a development center in downtown Seattle, near the Pioneer Square/International District — its second in the West Coast — staffed with e-commerce and engineering teams, which will be responsible for enhancing search, SEO and personalization.

San Francisco -- Kenshoo, a provider of predictive media optimization technology, announced the beta release of its newest digital marketing targeting solution, Intent-Driven Audiences (IDA), which matches clicks on search engine ads to audiences on Facebook in real-time. This allows marketers to show ads to consumers that have searched for specific keywords and also use Facebook’s targeting capabilities to find more customers like them.