Artificial Intelligence

E-commerce was labeled Walmart’s next growth engine by Neil Ashe, the retailer’s president and CEO of global e-commerce during an investor presentation Wednesday morning.

SAN FRANCISCO — Braintree, a payments platform for online and mobile commerce, has appointed Google Wallet co-found Rob von Behren as the company’s lead engineer for its San Francisco office. 

In his new role, von Behren will be charged with helping to advance Braintree's position in mobile commerce, including its one-touch mobile payment solution Venmo.

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. — Global appliance leader Whirlpool Corporation has launched a line of smart appliances with 6th Sense Live technology. 

The company’s flagship Whirlpool brand is making smart home management a reality in the Chicagoland area with the release of a suite of smart appliances along with a free mysmartappliances app, which is already available in the iTunes app store.

PORTLAND, Ore. — ShopIgniter, a company that enables digital marketers to connect brands with social and mobile consumers, is bolstering its executive team, on the heels of updating its platform.

TREVOSE, Pa. — Airclic, a global provider of cloud-based software that transforms the accuracy, efficiency and competitiveness of mobile supply chain and logistics operations, has appointed Charlie Virden as VP of sales.

New York -- Chain Store Age is pleased to announce that Dan Berthiaume has joined the staff as senior editor, technology.  

Berthiaume, who started covering retail technology in 1998, brings a wealth of experience to his new position. He served as corporate content manager of Retail Systems AlertGroup from 1998 to 2006, writing and editing the company's retail tech publications and overseeing its website, and then moved on to a successful freelance career, reporting on technology for a variety of print and online publications.

It is with great pleasure that I introduce myself to you as the new senior editor of Chain Store Age, focused on covering all the news, trends and happenings in the constantly changing world of retail IT. Technology is evolving at a breakneck pace with major implications for retail. Emerging technology areas such as mobile, social and cloud are changing the very nature of customer experience, while the explosion of Big Data offers both a major challenge and opportunity for retailers that can successfully harness the immense of volume of information that is now available.

By Nish Bhalla, [email protected]

It’s hard to think of a company, retail or otherwise, that isn’t developing a mobile app these days — but the vast majority of apps are riddled with security flaws that could jeopardize the end-user and expose the company to high costs and embarrassment.