Business Intelligence (BI)

Redwood Shores, Calif. -- J. C. Penney Co. will implement a complete, open and integrated suite of Oracle Retail solutions designed to streamline operations and improve the cross-channel customer experience. The department store retailer will deploy applications in a host of critical areas, including merchandising, supply chain and store operation, to support its transformation initiatives.
 

Redwood Shores, Calif. -- Improving the cross-channel customer experience and optimizing the supply chain ranked as retailers’ biggest challenges in a new study by Oracle. The report also found that mobile access is key: Forty percent of retailers said that providing store associates with mobile access to customer, product, inventory and other information is critical to their business, along with providing the entire organization with a more consistent and complete view of the customer (40%).

Armonk, N.Y. -- Mobile shopping rose in the second quarter while social media sales fell, providing an indication of where U.S. retailers may invest in order to capture the attention and loyalty of the digital consumer, according to a new report from IBM.

The IBM Retail Online Index, a cloud-based analysis of the online retail sector, reported that retailers experienced 15% growth in sales from mobile devices but saw a 20% decline in sales traced to social media based on a much smaller base over this three-month period.

New York -- Simple demographic targeting does not weight advertising exposures toward households that have greater purchasing value, according to a study by Catalina Marketing released Monday. The study shows that, for a cross-section of major consumer brands, an average of just 15% of television ad exposures reach the households that account for 80% of sales. Meanwhile, brand advertisers deliver 64% of exposures to households that account for just 2% of sales.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — Eddie Bauer is engaging the software services of ChannelAdvisor to broaden online visibility and simplify the selling process on shopping engines, ChannelAdvisor anounced. Specifically, Eddie Bauer is using Managed Marketplaces and Managed Comparison Shopping solutions.

DENVER — ShopAtHome.com, a coupon search engine, announced that Tim Mayer has joined the company as VP marketing.
 
In his new role, Mayer will be responsible for spearheading this objective, overseeing user experience and member engagement.

Framingham, Mass. -- When comparing social media investment to other emerging technology areas, retailers more than any other industry are making strong investments, according to a new study by International Data Corp.

Deerfield, Ill. — Walgreens on Tuesday extended its innovation in mobile technology with the introduction of a developer portal that allows third-party software developers to integrate the Walgreens QuickPrints software development kit, enabling photo printing directly from iPhone and Android mobile devices.