Artificial Intelligence

Seattle – The new Amazon Fire smartphone, introduced at an invitation-only press conference on June 18, includes features specifically designed to encourage shopping on Amazon.com. Most significantly, a feature known as Firefly can recognize 100 million items, including physical objects such as CDs as well as barcodes and QR codes. It is the first smartphone Amazon has produced on its own.

Amazon has thrown its hat into the smartphone ring. At an event in its hometown of Seattle, the online retailer unveiled Fire, the first smartphone it has ever designed.

In a marketplace that’s already crowded with the latest iPhones, Andriods and Blackberrys, Amazon has invested in two new technologies — Dynamic Perspective and Firefly — that make Fire a compelling product that won’t get lost in the mix.  

Plano, Texas - Rent-A-Center Inc. has named Mike Case to VP marketing strategy and insights. Case is responsible for global administration of customer insights/market research, marketing analytics, business innovation, CRM and loyalty.

Recently, Case served as VP marketing and senior loyalty officer for La Quinta Inn & Suites Earlier in his career, Case held leadership positions in organizations such as American Airlines, Brierley & Partners, Sage Telecom, First USA Bank and Virgin America.

By Jason Christoff, PE, LEED AP BD+C

The way business is executed within the retail construction industry may never be the same. The Great Recession is finally behind us, but it has changed how retailers deliver stores, as well as how architecture and engineering professionals design them. The A/E delivery model is constantly being reimagined to meet the needs of the changing market, but typically not as quickly or drastically as within the last five years.
 

Walmart added to its collection of Silicon Valley acquisitions with the purchase of mobile fashion app Stylr.

Beginning in July, Samsung intends to make a splash in retail stores with a high-tech appliance display called CenterStage. The new concept showcases Samsung’s portfolio of appliances in what it calls “an ultra-realistic and life-size display with an intuitive touch-screen interface.”

The Mayday button customer service feature Amazon introduced on its Kindle Fire HDX product last fall boasts an average response time of less than 10 seconds, roughly the time it takes other organizations’ automatic voice response system to say, “your call is very important to us….”

By Tom Bianculli, Senior Director of Emerging Business, Motorola Solutions

The Internet of Things opens the door to new technologies that will have a significant impact on brick-and-mortar stores. Everything and everyone in the store will be connected in real time and retailers will become as connected as their online counterparts. This will create a personalized environment not only for store associates and managers, but also for shoppers.