Artificial Intelligence

Despite the ongoing emphasis on energy conservation, many retailers still underestimate the benefits of energy-efficient products and systems. David Ely, of EDSS, told Chain Store Age that reducing energy and carbon emissions is only going to become more important as cities address energy at the local level and regulations become increasingly strict.

Whole Foods Market says it is slashing more than 1% of its workforce in an effort to lower prices for its customers and invest in technology upgrades.

The grocery chainsaysit will cut about 1,500 jobs, or 1.6% of its workforce, over the next eight weeks. The company says many of the reductions will come through attrition.

The holiday season is rapidly approaching, so of course everyone is thinking about the latest trends in... retail IT. Okay, nobody outside of the industry has visions of technology solutions dancing in their heads, but retailers do need to know what is developing on the IT front as their busiest season arrives.

The holiday season is rapidly approaching, so of course everyone is thinking about the latest trends in... retail IT. Okay, nobody outside of the industry has visions of technology solutions dancing in their heads, but retailers do need to know what is developing on the IT front as their busiest season arrives.

IBM aims to let retailers get more personal with their customers. As part of a general release of new cloud-based industry platforms, IBM is introducing a Retail Consumer Experience platform.

A new association of mobile and technology companies and associations is seeking greater openness in the mobile technology space. A coalition named Evolve is promoting the consumer benefits of unlicensed spectrum and new technologies for unlicensed spectrum like LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) and Licensed Assisted Access (LAA).

Chain Store Age’s 13-year-old Executive SPECS event has been rebranded X/SPECS to underscore a new focus on innovation and in-store technologies.

X/SPECS 2015, to be held Oct. 27-29 in Scottsdale, Arizona, will showcase the evolution of physical stores and the role that technology plays in transforming the in-store customer experience through a series of exciting presentations that will include:

We live in the age of the empowered consumer – with little patience and sky-high demands for personalized shopping experiences. Today’s consumers are used to having everything they want available to them at the swipe of a finger or within a physical store. When there’s an app for nearly everything along with ultra-accurate search technologies, brands need to make sure they’re delivering on their promises and providing seamless and relevant customer experiences across all channels –mobile, web, social, call center, physical stores and more.