Business Intelligence (BI)

by Jim Malone, Retalon   Every year, retailers put fresh spins on evergreen holiday décor, remixing such classics as the Christmas tree and jack-o-lanterns to tempt seasonal shoppers. Though we have yet to see this year's big trend, it's probably safe to say it will not be the Christmas Turkey or Thanksgiving Skeleton.  

Milpitas, Calif. –- SGI, a provider of data analytics solutions and an SAP global technology partner, has introduced SGI UV for SAP HANA.  It is a purpose-built, in-memory computing appliance for growing environments running the SAP HANA platform.   

Boston -- Powerhouse Dynamics, creator of the SiteSage enterprise energy and asset management system, is beefing up its mobile app with a series of control and reporting enhancements to provide facility  managers with complete facility energy and equipment operations management.   

Pittsburgh –- Multi-format food, fuel and pharmacy retailer Giant Eagle Inc. is piloting smart devices from Brickstream for capturing and analyzing in-store data at six stores. Brickstream’s hardware and software solutions deliver the equivalent of “clickstream” analytics for the brick-and-mortar world.   

Boston –- Between April and June of 2014, the retail sector led all industries in data breaches with 145 million records, or 83% of the total records compromised, costing retailers $195 per record apprehended. In response, Boston Retail Partners has released recommendations for data security best practices.    The recommendations include:  

Charlotte, N.C. –- Bank of America has reportedly released a report saying that Chinese e-commerce platform Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is the leader in global e-commerce, followed by Amazon.com.    According to Benzinga.com, Alibaba currently holds 31% of global e-commerce market share and should grow to capture 33% of global e-commerce market share in 2015.    

Oklahoma City, Okla. –- With plans to open 28 stores by the end of 2014, 30 or more new stores during 2015 and 50-plus stores every year thereafter, the 300-plus-unit convenience and fuel chain Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores needs a robust platform. As Love’s executives explained during a session at the recent SAP Retail Forum in New York, the retailer is turning to SAP to provide that platform.  

Austin, Texas –- Retailers are in agreement about using competitive data for pricing. According to a new survey of more than 100 retailers by merchandise optimization provider Revionics Inc., 100% of respondents integrate some form of competitive data into their pricing.
 

Burlington, Mass. -- Demandware Inc., a provider of enterprise cloud commerce solutions, has acquired CQuotient, a cloud personalization provider. The acquisition of CQuotient will accelerate Demandware’s plans to turn the data created across its community of retail brands into actionable insights for business optimization and differentiated consumer shopping experiences.   

New York -- Two-thirds of Americans are limiting how much they spend each month. According to a new Bankrate.com report, of those limiting their monthly spending, 32% cite stagnant income as the main reason and 29% cite the need to save more.