Predictive Analytics

A new survey has revealed some more glum news about shrink in the U.S. retail industry.

The 2015 U.S. Retail Fraud Survey by Retail Knowledge and Volumatic has estimated that U.S. retailers are losing $60 billion a year to shrink -- up from $57 billion last year. And employee theft is the single biggest cause of loss to retailers.

Whatever your opinion of fraudsters who steal and resell consumer credit card data, you can’t deny they are highly innovative.

This was the key message of a presentation security blogger Brian Krebs gave at the Gartner Symposium ITxpo 2015 in Orlando, Florida, on Oct. 4.

Despite the ongoing emphasis on energy conservation, many retailers still underestimate the benefits of energy-efficient products and systems. David Ely, of EDSS, told Chain Store Age that reducing energy and carbon emissions is only going to become more important as cities address energy at the local level and regulations become increasingly strict.

These are challenging times for the nation’s chief information officers — and speed is of the essence.

An annual survey of global CIOs found that digital innovation is actively causing disruption to business models, requiring IT leaders to move quickly to deliver new infrastructures, platforms and applications to meet customers’ fast-changing needs. An overwhelming two-thirds of all CIOs believe digital disruption is now a very significant change to business, according to the “Harvey Nash CIO Survey 2015,” done in association with KPMG.

Walmart has taken a big step towards becoming 100% supplied by renewable energy.

The discounter entered into a long-term power purchase agreement to buy the majority of the electricity generated by Pattern Energy Group’s new Logan's Gap Wind facility.

The 200 megawatt facility is in Comanche County, Texas.

IBM aims to let retailers get more personal with their customers. As part of a general release of new cloud-based industry platforms, IBM is introducing a Retail Consumer Experience platform.

We live in the age of the empowered consumer – with little patience and sky-high demands for personalized shopping experiences. Today’s consumers are used to having everything they want available to them at the swipe of a finger or within a physical store. When there’s an app for nearly everything along with ultra-accurate search technologies, brands need to make sure they’re delivering on their promises and providing seamless and relevant customer experiences across all channels –mobile, web, social, call center, physical stores and more.

Executing merchandise optimization, or at least performing it so the end game is won, can be confusing and convoluted since “optimization” seeps into almost every retail activity. Are we talking assortments, space, price, promotion, categories, merchandise or some combination?

Terms are irrelevant. Results are not. Merchandise optimization must deliver and reverberate success among every store and online channels. It must drive shopper loyalty, and must be executed to maximize margins, beat competitors and draw in your shoppers.