Business Intelligence (BI)

Consumers are changing the way they browse and shop for goods using mobile devices.

According to the State of Retailing Online 2016 study from Forrester Research, Shop.org and Bizrate Insights, growing use of smartphones by consumers, a shift in investments by technology companies and continued optimization strategies from retailers has landed smartphones on top as a driver of mobile sales and traffic for retail companies.

SPS Commerce Inc., a provider of cloud-based retail supply chain management solutions, is recognizing the need for back-end unification of supply chain and store.

SPS has acquired ToolBox Solutions, a Toronto-based provider of POS analytics and category management services to retailers and CPG suppliers in North America.

Everyone knows mobile will have a huge influence on commerce and customer engagement this year.

But what specific mobile trends will have the most impact in 2016. Enterprise mobile and Big Data solutions and services vendor Digital Management Inc. (DMI) has released a list of the top 10 mobile trends for the coming year. They are:

Staples is continuing to build on its assortment of small business services with an expanded technology assistance offering.

Staples Tech Services now offers a next day guarantee. The suite of offerings includes PC services. Select Staples stores also offer small businesses mobile phone and tablet repairs. The new guarantee from Staples Tech Services includes PC set-up, data transfer, software upgrades, virus removal and more.

There is an increasing difficulty in maintaining a skilled technical workforce. As the current workforce ages, technical experts are harder to find and concerns arise around workforce costs.

Same-store sales declined 11% at Hhgregg during the company’s third quarter ended Dec. 31 with the retailer of appliances, electronics and furniture citing competitive pressures as the source of weakness.

Cousins Subs, a regional sub sandwich retailer with more than 100 locations in Wisconsin and Arizona, knows that a bigger sandwich isn’t better unless it has the right ingredients.

Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin-based Cousins is taking the same approach to corporate growth that it takes to increasing the size of its sandwiches. Cousins is partnering with customer analytics platform provider Buxton to develop site selection strategies based on core customer insights. Buxton will also identify new real estate growth opportunities for Cousins Subs in the Midwest.

All was not quiet on New Year’s Day for online retailers and their customers.

According to Verizon Retail Index data, broadband traffic attributed to e-commerce shopping activity reached new heights over the New Year’s holiday weekend (Jan. 1-3). E-commerce traffic posted highs of 28%, 32% and 36% respectively above average daily levels on those three days – a similar pattern to the prior year. Notably, Sunday posted the highest activity of the season to date which is consistent with a trend identified by Verizon during the 2014 season.

Cleveland -- Forest City Enterprises, Forest City Realty Trust announced the completion of the merger of FCE Merger Sub, Inc., an Ohio corporation, with and into Forest City Enterprises, Inc., with Forest City Enterprises, Inc. surviving as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Forest City Realty Trust, Inc.

The merger marks the final step in the company’s planned conversion to real estate investment trust (REIT) status for the taxable year ending December 31, 2016.

I left Walmart to pursue what I saw as the future of retail. In my exit interview with Mike Duke (at that time president and CEO of Walmart International) he asked me what I meant by the future of retail. Having worked in the international division, Sam’s Club and Costco prior to that, the future I saw at the time revolved around leveraging data and managing technology to understand customers in a granular fashion and speaking to them directly as individuals with highly lifestyle relevant products and services.