Business Intelligence (BI)

Charming Charlie wants to make sure Web customers get the same attentive service as shoppers at its 350-plus stores.

To that end, the jewelry and accessories retailer has deployed the Yottaa ContextIntelligence cloud-based application acceleration and security platform to optimize, accelerate, and secure its online retail environment. The platform is being leveraged alongside Magento Enterprise.

Sharing detailed data with vendors is an idea that has been around since the 1990s, and is gaining new life at Ahold USA Inc.

Ahold, parent company of supermarkets Giant Landover, Stop & Shop New England, Stop & Shop New York Metro, Giant Carlisle, and online grocery Peapod, has partnered with Retail Solutions Inc. (RSI) to introduce shared enterprise business processes with vendors. Ahold USA has leveraged RSI’s data platform and collaboration tools to better align its business goals and daily priorities with its vendor partners.

Irvine, California-based specialty Western and workwear retailer Boot Barn is laying down the law.

The surge in fraudulent e-commerce transactions which was predicted in the wake of U.S. EMV compliance may already be happening.
 
According to the new Online Fraud Index from payment platform provider Pymnts.com and security technology vendor Forster, fraud attacks on U.S. online retailers rose 163% during the first three quarters of 2015. Interestingly, this large increase in online fraud preceded the Oct. 1, 2015 EMV mandate, although many retailers had already begun or even completed EMV compliance efforts during that time.
 

It has been roughly four months since the Oct. 1, 2015 liability mandate for U.S. retailers to adopt EMV – how much progress has been made?

Tops Markets, a 167-unit supermarket chain based in Williamsville, New York, is leveraging advanced analytics to transform both its loss prevention and customer service efforts.

When it comes to systems infrastructure, retailers are moving in a particular direction.

According to a new study from IHL Group, “Total Retail SaaS Market,” 26% of all retail spending on software in 2016 in North America will be cloud-based. This includes 60% of retailers’ e-commerce spend and 53% of their BI/analytics and sales/marketing software spend will be on cloud-based systems.

Online retail platform Jet is getting a better idea of how well its customer service efforts are working with a new tool from service measurement/optimization company StellaService.

Same store sales literally fell off a cliff at Citi Trends in the waning days of the fourth quarter and the operator of 522 urban fashion stores is attributing the weakness to the federal government.

Global technology platform and payments provider PayPal Holding, Inc. has appointed VP of global payments infrastructure (GPI) Sri Shivananda as the company’s new senior VP and CTO, effective April 1.

Shivananda’s appointment follows the decision by current CTO James Barrese, to step down to take time off. Barrese will remain with PayPal for a period of time to support a smooth transition period.