Artificial Intelligence

Cincinnati -- Bashas’ Family of Stores, which operates than 120 supermarkets throughout Arizona, will work with KSS Retail to model, measure and implement pricing strategies for its Bashas’ and Food City banners.

“Our goal is to provide our customers with a superior shopping experience,” said Robert Ortiz, Bashas’ VP sales and marketing. “Working with KSS Retail will give us the ability to better understand our customers and what’s most important to them.”
 

Armonk, N.Y. -- IBM announced that AutoTrader.com, a leading online automotive marketplace, is using IBM technology for Smarter Commerce as part of its electronic sales order system to simplify and accelerate the ordering experience for its dealer and manufacturer customers.

Chicago -- Jones Lang LaSalle said Monday that it has launched IntelliCommand, the industry’s first integrated building management solution that combines cloud-based, smart-building technology with a team of engineering and operations professionals to enable 24/7, real-time remote monitoring and control of facilities and portfolios worldwide.

Armonk, N.Y. -- Online holiday shopping in November is expected to grow 12% to 15% versus the year-ago period, with mobile devices such as iPads and Android phones helping to drive spending, according to the IBM Coremetrics Benchmark analysis which gathers data directly from the websites of more than 500 leading U.S. retailers. The analysis also predicts that 15% of people in the United States who log onto a retailer’s website during November will do so through a mobile device.

By David Thomas, motorolasolutions.com

New York City -- Oracle Corp. said it will acquire RightNow Technologies, a leading provider of cloud-based customer service, for approximately $1.5 billion. The acquisition follows Oracle's recent announcement that it is purchasing Endeca, a provider of unstructured data management, web commerce and BI solutions.

RightNow focuses on customer experience across contact channels. Its Customer Service Cloud is geared at customer interactions and data for call centers, social networks and the web, according to RightNow’s website.