Artificial Intelligence

Timothy Breene, former chief strategy and corporate development officer and founder and CEO of Accenture Interactive – the fast growing digital media and marketing analytics business – has joined Orchestro’s board of directors to help enable brands worldwide to act with the speed and agility needed to win every inch in today’s tightly matched market.

By Mark Ledbetter, [email protected]

There's a season for everything, and that's no less true for retailers. Merchants have historically enjoyed a central position in the retail universe, driving everything from pricing to availability. How quickly things have changed. Today, try telling a 19-year-old that she can't get a discount on the slightly frayed jeans she found on the discount rack. She'll buy a similar pair online and Tweet about it so fast, it will make your head spin!

New York -- Digital sizing station company Me-Ality said Monday that Bloomingdale’s has partnered with Me-Ality to provide enhanced denim services by installing digital sizing stations in five Bloomingdale’s stores.

New York -- Jewelry sales are expected to grow more than 11% in the second quarter and 9% overall this year, according to a new IBM Big Data-based forecast.

According to the analysis, improved consumer confidence, lower unemployment and enhanced stock dividends from fourth quarter 2012 have combined to leave people ready to start spending on luxury items again, like jewelry.

ROSEVILLE, Calif. — Revionics, a provider of end-to-end merchandise optimization solutions, that it has named John Greenfield as SVP global business development. Greenfield has been successfully serving as Revionics’ VP channels and alliances. In his new role, Greenfield will be responsible for identifying, creating, and growing strategic global partnerships and alliances that will support accelerated revenue growth for the company.

Seattle -- Starbucks Coffee Company announced that it has appointed Matthew Ryan as global chief strategy officer. Ryan was previously SVP of global brand, franchise and customer relationship management for The Walt Disney Company.

Beaverton, Ore. -- Digimarc Corp. announced that Costco Wholesale Corp. is using the Digimarch Discover Intuitive Computing Platform (ICP) to embed transparent digital watermarks in editorial and advertising content connected with The Costco Connection starting with the April issue.

Sustainability is often confused with “going green,” but while environmental improvement is part of the picture, sustainability is bigger than that. It’s a strategy for individuals and organizations to thrive for the long term. Operating sustainably ensures an efficient, resilient and innovative organization that not only does less harm to people and the environment, but also does more good and makes a profit in the process. Because as many have pointed out, a business that loses money won’t be around to do anything very long.