Artificial Intelligence

Americans’ well-founded apprehension about the security of their personal information received a booster shot of sorts when 60 Minutes aired a disturbing piece about the state of digital security.

Retail Strategy: Top Issues Facing Retail CIOs  David Dorf, Oracle   It wasn’t long ago that the main expectations for the retailer CIO were to keep the servers running, desktops patched, and store-based POS systems taking money.  Today, the CIO fulfills a more strategic role, one that impacts the organization’s ability to adapt to changing consumer preferences, preserve margins and serve customers.  Here is a look at the top issues facing retail CIOs today:   

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.

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.


North Bergen, N.J. – The Vitamin Shoppe has signed a multi-year renewal agreement for Revionics price optimization technology. Three years ago the Vitamin Shoppe implemented the Revionics price optimization platform in an effort to undertake a more strategic, data-driven approach to its pricing strategies and tactics.

CVS Health has confirmed a report that it is planning to open a CVS Health Digital Innovation Lab this winter in Boston that will focus on “building customer-centric experiences in health care.”

Dayton, Ohio -- The Dayton Mall is launching the Shapify Booth, a 3D full body scanner from Artec Group, on Tuesday, Nov. 18 in the mall’s center court. The booth takes a full scan of a person in 12 seconds, which is then 3D printed to create a full-color figurine called a “Shapie.”  

San Jose, Calif. -- PayPal and Braintree have named named the $100,000 grand prize winner of the 2014 BattleHack Series. At the World Finals, competitors were tasked with building an application that incorporates PayPal, Braintree or Venmo APIs.    The grand prize was awarded to the team from Tel Aviv, with two hackers, Shai Mishali and Pavel Kaminsky.