Artificial Intelligence

Camp Hill, Pa. -- Three Rite Aid stores have been awarded Energy Star certification for superior energy performance by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA awards the Energy Star certification to buildings that rank in the top 25% of similar buildings nationwide in terms of energy efficiency and meet strict energy efficiency performance levels set by the EPA.

SAN FRANCISCO and DULUTH, Minn. — DemandTec, an optimization network for retailers and consumer products companies, announced that it has partnered with the Labovitz School of Business & Economics at the University of Minnesota Duluth to support the university's new program training students with skills for careers in the retail and consumer products industries.

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Palo Alto, Calif. -- Shopkick, a leading location-based shopping app, announced that all Crate and Barrel locations across the United States will offer walk-in rewards and special deals to shoppers simply for visiting. For shoppers, that means shopkick walk-in rewards are now available in 39 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, up from three states at launch in August 2010.

The national rollout comes less than five months after Crate and Barrel initially launched its shopkick trial.

WASHINGTON -- Mobile and social initiatives are becoming increasingly important to retailers. According to “The State Of Retailing Online 2011: Marketing, Social, and Mobile” report conducted by Forrester Research Inc. for Shop.org, 91% of retailers currently have a mobile strategy in place or in development (up from 74% a year ago). Additionally, 72% of retailers say they will increase their spending on social networks this year over last year. “

Mike Duke presented at the Barclay’s conference Tuesday, and, as we predicted in last week’s WNN, he did not speak about first-quarter sales, which the company will report on May 17. Instead Duke focused on such broad goals as growth, leverage, but offered little detail on how the company plans to achieve them.

New York  City -- Three Stop & Shop stores in the Boston area on Monday will launch a software app from ModivMedia that allow customers with iPhones to scan grocery items and add them to an electronic shopping cart, The Boston Globe reported.

Cincinnati -- Macy's announced that it is taking new steps to become a more sustainable company.

"Our company has embraced the principles of sustainability, and we continue to take actions that are tangible, measurable and meaningful in reducing our use of scarce resources and improving the efficiency of our business in serving customer needs," said Tom Cole, Macy's chief administrative officer. "We have made significant progress over the past several years, and we continue to move forward with new ideas in 2011 and beyond."