Predictive Analytics

Mall operator General Growth Properties (GGP) is looking to get in touch with customers in a new and very personal way.

GGP has selected Mobiquity to be the provider of beacon-based advertising services for select malls in its U.S. portfolio, including Tysons Galleria (Washington D.C.), Glendale Galleria (Los Angeles), Water Tower Place (Chicago) and Ala Moana Center (Honolulu).

The numbers are in and one specific device clearly served as a major catalyst for increased e-commerce sales during the 2015 holiday season.

According to the MarketLive 2015 Holiday Flash Report, smartphone revenue during the just-completed holiday season (Nov. 23, 2015 – Jan. 3, 2016) increased 50%. Overall e-commerce revenue grew 8% during that period.

Appliance manufacturer Whirlpool is launching a new partnership with IBM that is likely a sign of how the consumer product market will substantially change in the next few years.

Whirlpool is now combining connected home appliances with IBM Watson services, including cognitive analytics, to provide more personalized services to consumers.

Under Armour is undertaking an ambitious effort to provide extremely personalized health and fitness coaching, assisted by IBM.

Under Armour has entered a strategic partnership with IBM to create and provide data-backed health and fitness insights, powered by IBM Watson's cognitive computing technology. The partnership will combine Under Armour’s new UA Record personal fitness app with an IBM Watson Cognitive Coaching System.

The numbers are in and one specific device clearly served as a major catalyst for increased e-commerce sales during the 2015 holiday season.

According to the MarketLive 2015 Holiday Flash Report, smartphone revenue during the just-completed holiday season (Nov. 23, 2015 – Jan. 3, 2016) increased 50%. Overall e-commerce revenue grew 8% during that period.

Walgreens Boots Alliance on Thursday reported net sales of $29 billion, representing an increase of 48.5%, for the first quarter 2016 that ended Nov. 30, 2015. The significant growth was attributed to the inclusion of Alliance Boots consolidated results, the company reported.

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:

One trend that will likely become more prevalent in 2016 is visual search, the ability to click on an image of a product and obtain information or even make a purchase, without typing in any words.

Urban Outfitters and other select retailers are offering visual search capabilities, and the failed Amazon Fire smartphone essentially made the world into an Amazon showroom with an advanced virtual search tool.

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.

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.