Consumer Analytics

Amazon’s newest endeavor hopes to attract more Spanish-speaking shoppers.   The online retailer offering its website in Spanish, its first new language introduction since the site launched 20 years ago, according to CNet.   

A new partnership will help retailers make smarter business decisions faster.   Based on a new alliance between IBM Watson and Salesforce, the companies will seamlessly connect their solutions — a move that will enable a new level of intelligent customer engagement across sales, service, marketing, and commerce, among other operations.     

It’s hard to drive camaraderie among a highly dispersed workforce — but HSN has found a way.   The entertainment and lifestyle retailer reaches 94 million households through 1,700 sales and service agents —most of which remotely work from home. Such a widely dispersed workforce makes it difficult to use conventional tactics to build healthy competitive spirit and camaraderie in group settings. This challenge forced the company to step up its employee engagement game.  

Following a report that said the CIA is capable of breaking into Apple devices, the electronics company is working diligently to fix potential vulnerabilities.   On Tuesday, March 7, the WikiLeaks website said the CIA has an arsenal of malware ready to undermine security and encryption measures on Apple’s iPhones, Mac OS operating system, AirPort routers, according to ReCode.   

Generation Z is called the mobile-first generation. However, their preference for shopping in physical stores presents new opportunities for retailers.   That’s according to a new report from Euclid Analytics, “Evolution of Retail, 2017 Generation Z Shopper Survey,” which found that 66% of Gen Z prefer to shop in store because they like to see, hold and try on products before buying. Also, 28% want to engage with store associates while shopping, the most of any generation.  

Pinterest’s visual search capabilities just got broader.   On Monday, March 6, the social media site expanded its visual search technology into its browser extensions — a move that enables pinners to save images found online and use them as a jump-off point for discovering similar ideas on Pinterest, the company said.   Chrome is the first extension to receive the functionality.  

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store’s mission is to “keep things simple and please people.” The same holds true when it comes to helping customers place orders.   Responding to its visitors’ demand for more convenience and flexibility when placing to-go orders, the chain now features a platform that allows customers to order meals through their smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktop computers.   

Supermarkets and fast-casual restaurant brands took the top positions in an annual ranking of customer experience. Publix, Chick-fil-A, and H-E-B earned top three positions in Temkin Group’s 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings, a cross-industry benchmark of customer experience. Publix had a score of 84%, closely followed by Chick-fil-A and H-E-B, which both scored 83% in the seventh annual rating.