Artificial Intelligence

Dallas -- To help retailers better understand and act on consumer behavior in the fast changing retail market place, SAP AG announced the SAP Customer Activity Repository application, a new retail data repository powered by the SAP HANA platform. 

Atlanta -- FineLine Technologies  and Scanbuy announced  a broad and comprehensive agreement that will enable retailers to easily implement a QR Code, Microsoft Tag, and/or an NFC mobile-enhanced packaging solution across their global supply chains, and directly into the hands of shoppers.
 

CashStar, a digital gifting company, has named Ben Kaplan as the company’s president and CEO. In addition to his role as president and CEO, Kaplan remains a member of the company’s board of directors, to which he was appointed in August when he joined CashStar as COO.

The “present” of retail technology just got a little more futuristic. Specialty paint retailer Sherwin-Williams recently released a new consumer app for Google Glass, called ColorSnap Glass, which provides a digital layer of color samples customers can view using the Google Glass device.

Global ecommerce and payment processing leader First Data Corporation and Microsoft to simplify retailers ability to offer and redeem local deal offers.

The companies said that First Data’s OfferWise solution has been integrated with Microsoft’s Bing Offers Card-Linked which consolidates local deals from a number of deal providers. OfferWise is an open platform that enables retailers to electronically attach offers to any consumer payment card or mobile wallet to allow streamlined and automatic redemption of the offer at the point of sale.

Most retailers now have some sort of social presence, but too often it consists of having an account on popular social media networks and little more. Following are five examples of recent retail social media offerings that leverage social media’s unique ability to engage consumers, improve operations and boost profits.

American Eagle – ‘Rock Your Walk’

Atif Rafiq was named to the newly created position of chief digital officer at McDonald’s after previously serving as general manager of Kindle Direct Publishing at Amazon.

In his new role, Rafiq will lead McDonald's global digital strategy focusing on future growth in e-commerce, modernizing the restaurant experience and engaging with consumers across the digital landscape. Rafiq will report to chief brand officer Steve Easterbrook.

The 2014 International CES will feature a new exhibit area called “FashionWare,” focused on the latest innovation in wearable technology, event organizers announced.

Scheduled for January 7-10 in Las Vegas, the CES show, the timing is right for the FashionWare concept because the worlds of apparel, accessories and technology are becoming integrated, so much so in fact that event organizers are planning a wearable technology fashion show.