Artificial Intelligence

By Gregg Brunnick, [email protected]

NEW YORK -- Google is looking to extend its presence in the retail space, by opening freestanding stores in the United States.

According to a report by online site 9to5Google, the first flagship locations will open in time for the 2013 holiday shopping season.

“Google feels right now that many potential customers need to get hands-on experience with its products before they are willing to purchase," the website reported.

Tyler, Texas -- Brookshire Grocery Co. recently became one of a select number of grocery retailers nation-wide to join the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s GreenChill partnership, which works with supermarkets to reduce refrigerant emissions and decrease their impact on the ozone layer and climate change.

New York — Findings released Tuesday by PricewaterhouseCoopers showed that top-performing companies typically have demonstrated strong collaboration between the corner office and the CIO.

According to PwC’s Digital IQ survey, companies with strong, collaborative relationships between the CIO and other c-suite executives are four times as likely to be top-performing companies as those with fragmented relationships.

NEW YORK — With Toy Fair happening now in New York City, the Toy Industry Association has revealed what it believes are the top toy trends for 2013. 

Woodcliff Lake, N.J. -- Wireless solution provider I.D. Systems said Tuesday it has received a series of purchase orders from Walgreens for the latest generation of its PowerFleet wireless Vehicle Management System, to be deployed on hundreds of material handling vehicles across multiple Walgreens distribution centers.

Walgreens originally implemented I.D. Systems' wireless technology in 2003 and is systematically upgrading more than a dozen of its facilities to the current generation of PowerFleet VMS.

ROSEVILLE, Calif. -- Revionics a leading provider of end-to-end merchandise optimization solutions, has entered into a channel partnership agreement with Supply Nexus, a solutions provider specializing in the design and implementation of multichannel distribution and supply chain management solutions. This channel partnership will offer the Spain and Portugal retail markets Revionics end-to-end merchandise optimization solutions.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Caremark has announced the appointment of former Staples executive Brian Tilzer as SVP chief digital officer.

In his new role, Tilzer will develop and lead teams driving CVS Caremark's company-wide digital innovation efforts and will focus on connecting current and future digital initiatives.