Predictive Analytics

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has a vast and complicated corporate infrastructure, but that doesn’t stop the world’s largest retailer from pursuing fast, fact-based decisions based on technology innovation. During a keynote address at the SAP SAPPHIRE conference in Orlando, Florida, Wal-Mart CIO Karenann Terrell described Wal-Mart’s approach to decisions and data.

New York -- Thirty percent of consumers either own or plan to buy a wearable device in the next 12 months, and 34% of those consumers want wearable technology to make their lives easier – and that includes shopping. Those are among the findings of a new study by PowerReviews, a ratings and reviews provider.

Minneapolis -- Quantum Retail Technology, a provider of merchandise optimization and inventory solutions for retail, announced that The Children's Place has selected Quantum's Q Analytics for Size and Pack Optimization. The solution joins The Children's Place's implementation of Quantum's Q for Allocation and Replenishment, due to go live this year, and their planned implementation of Quantum's Q for Order Planning.

Only 53% of executives believe the EMV chip and pin will protect against a data breach, despite claims that it is more secure, according to a new study.

Weis Markets says its customer experience strategy is paying off, as the grocery chain credited the effort with its increase in same store sales in the first quarter.

By Ken Westin, Tripwire

For the second time in a year, Sally Beauty Holdings, which owns U.S. Sally Beauty stores, is currently investigating reports of unusual activity involving payment cards used at some of their stores.

Hoboken, N.J. – Amazon.com may be hoping to fly high with drone-based deliveries, but a rival e-commerce platform is also planning to take off soon. Jet.com, a subscription-based e-commerce site that hopes to compete with the Amazon Prime membership service using “profit-free” pricing, promises to launch soon.

San Francisco - Visa Inc. is expanding its technology research capabilities globally and appointing Min Wang to senior VP of Visa Research Labs. Wang joins Visa from Google Research, where she was a senior staff research scientist focused on data mining.

She also held senior staff research roles at HP Labs China and at the Unified Data Analytics Department at the IBM Watson Research Center.