Data & Analytics

Augmented reality mobile game Pokémon Go has given a big sales boost to GameStop.  

It won’t help you find Pikachu, but a new mobile tool from Macy’s will assist shoppers in navigating the store.   The department store retailer is piloting “Macy’s On Call,” a solution that lets in-store customers use their mobile phones to interact with an artificial intelligence (AI) platform powered by IBM Watson. The Satisfi intelligent engagement platform provides the connection between the mobile tool and the Watson platform.  

Consumer goods giant Unilever is paying a reported $1 billion to buy an online retail start-up that has yet to turn to profit.   Unilever PLC announced it is buying Dollar Shave Club, the razor delivery subscription service known for its irreverent brand positioning and viral You Tube videos. Terms of the deal were not announced, but The New York Times and other media outlets reported Unilever is paying $1 billion in cash for the scrappy company, which has yet to turn a profit but expects to do so by yearend.  

Available space in strip centers dipped to 11% in the second quarter, the lowest rate for these neighborhood venues since 2008. The reason: omnichannel growth and format experimentation, according to CBRE, which tracked availability across 62 U.S. markets.  

Cushman & Wakefield’s senior director for Brooklyn Joseph Cirone is incredibly bullish on the borough in which he lives and works.    “If you are a tenant in Manhattan with a lease expiring any time in the next 36 months, you need to come and kick the tires in Brooklyn,” Cirone told attendees at a presentation of the company’s mid-year commercial real estate outlook for Manhattan.   

Dick’s Sporting Goods is building a new $100 million regional distribution center that will service more than 200 stores throughout the Northeast.   The 650,000-sq.-ft. facility will be located at Broome County Corporate Park in Conklin, New York. Construction will begin in August 2016 and is scheduled for completion in early 2018. Dick’s expects to create 466 full-time jobs at the center during the next five years.  

Wearable technology has a way to go before it becomes mainstream, but perhaps not as far as some observers think.  

There are a limited number of retail apps a customer will use, and an app that is siloed has no chance of being one of them.   Cognizant of the need to ensure a shopping app is part of a larger, streamlined omnichannel environment, specialty online fashion retailer Bluefly is releasing a new app built on the Mozu commerce platform. With nearly 42% of its sales coming from mobile, Bluefly is offering several features designed to put the customer in the center of the shopping experience.  

When it comes to shopping via mobile app, consumers favor one retailer above all others.   Not too surprisingly, Amazon.com’s general dominance of digital retailing extends to the mobile app arena. According to new data from SurveyMonkey Intelligence, Amazon has more than 30 million monthly active users (MAU) of its mobile app in the U.S. This means about one in 10 Americans uses the Amazon app every month.  

The Tile Shop is on a roll.   The chain on Tuesday reported an 8.2% increase in same-store sales for the second quarter, along with a 20% reduction in new store buildout costs. The retailer also said it is launching an in-store and online tool that allows customers to personalize and visualize how an entire room or a distinct space will look upon completion of a project.