Data & Analytics

Armonk, N.Y. – Overall U.S. online retail sales for the week leading up to Father’s Day (June 9-15) were up more than 14% from the same period in 2013. According to the cloud-based IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark, Father's Day average order value was $119.37.

By Tom Bianculli, Senior Director of Emerging Business, Motorola Solutions

The Internet of Things opens the door to new technologies that will have a significant impact on brick-and-mortar stores. Everything and everyone in the store will be connected in real time and retailers will become as connected as their online counterparts. This will create a personalized environment not only for store associates and managers, but also for shoppers.

Sydney, Australia -- Wipro Ltd. announced that it has won a “transformational IT applications and infrastructure engagement” from 7-Eleven in Australia.

By Girish Pai, AVP, Group Manager, Retail, CPG and Logistics for Infosys


Ali Baba is a literary character from the Arabian Nights stories known for his ability to get virtually anything he wants by shouting “Open Sesame!”

San Bruno, Calif. -- @WalmartLabs, the Silicon Valley-based tech R&D and innovation arm of Wal-Mart Stores, has acquired Stylr, a mobile fashion app that helps shoppers finds clothes in nearby stores. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Stylr is @WalmartLabs' 13th acquisition in the past three years.

Stylr will be shut down and removed from the iTunes App Store by the end of the month. Wal-Mart's own mobile app won't run Stylr, but the newly acquired technology will be used to develop future mobile innovations.

New York -- Starbucks Corp. is launching an innovative program in partnership with Arizona State University (ASU) whereby the coffee giant will help pay for the cost of an online degree for its part-time and full-time associates who work at least 20 hours a week. In a twist from the standard tuition reimbursement program, Starbucks employees who participate in the program will not be obligated to stay on with the company after graduation.

Retailers are urged to provide a customer experience fit for the “digital natives” of the Millennial generation, who have grown up with constant connectivity and limitless personal choice. These all-important young consumers need to be able to buy any product on earth at any time with any electronic doodad they happen to be surfing the Net with at a given moment, or so it seems.

Dublin, Calif. – The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged four residents of Northern California with insider trading in Ross Stores stock options based on nonpublic information about monthly sales results leaked by one of the retailer’s employees. The SEC alleges that Saleem Khan was routinely tipped by his friend Roshanlal Chaganlal, who was a director in the finance department at Ross headquarters.