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eMarketer: Key trends to watch this holiday season
New York - Total retail sales in the United States will rise 5% to reach $862 billion during November and December this year, according to the latest forecast from eMarketer. Among the biggest trends to watch will be the acceleration in online sales, which are expected to grow at 16.6% year over year to reach $72.41 billion, or 8.4% of all retail purchases this holiday season. It’s a considerable uptick from 2013, when online sales totaled 7.6% of all holiday retail purchases. -
Macy’s launches app with image search capability
LONDON — Macy's continues to innovate its omnichannel experience with the launch of a new iOS app that incorporates image recognition and visual search software. The tool allows consumers to search through thousands of inventory items by simply using a picture snapped from their iPhone to find similar products available at Macys.com.
The photo search app was designed in the Macy's Idea Labs facility in San Francisco, and the software for the image recognition was developed and supplied by Cortexica, a leader mobile image recognition.

