Artificial Intelligence

By Chuck Densinger, [email protected] & Mason Thelen [email protected]

Question: Which computer system can provide retailers with unprecedented insight into how to serve their customers better?

Answer: Watson.

SEATTLE -- Amazon.com has announced the launch of the Amazon Appstore for Android at www.amazon.com/appstore. According to the company, the Amazon Appstore includes a new feature, "Test Drive," which allows customers to test apps on a simulated Android phone. Customers control the app through their computer using a mouse.

New York -- LexisNexis announced that it has a launched a suite of products designed to protect retailers from the risks associated card-not-present, or fraudulent credit card orders.

According to LexisNexis' 2010True Cost of Fraud Study, conducted by Javelin Strategy & Research, retailers are consistently experiencing more than $100 billion in annual fraud losses.

New York -- LexisNexis announced that it has a launched a suite of products designed to protect retailers from the risks associated card-not-present, or fraudulent credit card orders.

According to LexisNexis' 2010 True Cost of Fraud Study, conducted by Javelin Strategy & Research, retailers are consistently experiencing more than $100 billion in annual fraud losses.

Palto Alto, Calif. -- Personalization of the in-store customer experience will be a key objective for retailers over the next two years, according to two new Aberdeen Group reports sponsored by HP.

According to the 100 senior retail executives surveyed from industries such as apparel, grocery and department stores, 76% do not possess the technology tools or the business processes for executing web, catalog or special orders from stores. This challenge is being fueled by rising consumer expectations of rich, multimedia in-store shopping experiences.

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Coinstar will help boost the retail presence of a self-service kiosks provider through a new deal.

Consumers today are smarter and savvier than ever. Over the past decade, the continually growing use of the Internet has made it easier and faster to comparison shop. During the “Great Recession,” shoppers learned to lean even more heavily on the Web to do research and find good deals. Now, as the economy recovers, these sharp consumers are not about to go back to their old ways. In addition, future technology advances will only make it easier for consumers to comparison shop. So what’s a retailer to do?

REDMOND, Wash. -- Target has enlisted the services of Microsoft to help run business-critical workloads for all its retail stores on 15,000 virtual machines using Microsoft virtualization and management technologies, giving its IT department greater agility and economies of scale, Microsoft announced. According to Microsoft, Target is using Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V and Microsoft System Center to virtualize inventory, point-of-sale, supply-chain management, asset protection, in-store digital media and more.

A first of its kind conference focused on shopper behavior is scheduled for May 12 in Fayetteville, Ark., home of the Center for Retailing Excellence within the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. The conference is called SHOP and features a number of thought leaders in the field of consumer research and shopper insights and was designed to complement the Center’s Emerging Trends in Retailing Conference that is held each fall.

ARMONK, N.Y. -- IBM has announced new software and the creation a new consulting practice dedicated to the emerging category of "smarter commerce," which is focused on helping companies swiftly adapt to rising customer demands in today's digitally transformed marketplace.