Data & Analytics

Online retail sales continue to increase – both in absolute terms and as a percentage of total retail sales. The fact remains, however, that online commerce takes place in what is essentially a one-dimensional transactional venue.

Visual search, or the ability to click on an image of a product and obtain information, or even make a purchase, without typing in any words, is growing in popularity.

Retailers including Urban Outfitters are offering variations of visual search functionality, and the failed Amazon Fire smartphone essentially made the world into an Amazon showroom with an advanced virtual search tool. Considering that Pinterest has become one of the leading visually-oriented consumer sites, it’s not surprising the social platform has joined the fray.

It would take a pretty big event to cause Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Off 5th, and Neiman Marcus to all align their online discount offers.

Singles Day, coming up on Nov. 11, is just that size of an event. Once an informal celebration of the Chinese singles dating scene, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba formally turned Singles Day into a shopping holiday in 2009. The occasion generated gross merchandise volume of more than $9.3 billion on the Alibaba Alipay mobile and digital payment platform alone in 2014.

Everyone wants to know how Walmart can compete with Amazon in e-commerce when the latter doesn't really make money at it. According to Ad Age, "The more Walmart does to differentiate itself from Amazon and offer a better value proposition, the more it will succeed," she said. "The more it focuses on price and value, the more it can compete." But it's a very long game. [Ad Age]

While some retailers are taking a stand this year against opening on Thanksgiving Day and even Black Friday, Toys “R” Us thinks its customers will be ready to do some shopping after their turkey dinners.

The toy retailer announced that its stores will open at 5 p.m. on Nov. 26, the same time as last year. Stores will remain open through 11 p.m. on Nov. 27.

Last month outdoors retailer REI said it would close on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. GameStop, At Home and Staples have also announced they would not open on Thanksgiving.

E-commerce platform provider Demandware has released its annual list of retail predictions for 2016, and many of them center on how machines will continue taking over tasks once done by people.

Out of the nine trends Demandware identifies, four are related to growing IT automation: machine learning driving voice-based intelligence assistants, in-store payment evolving dramatically, data-driven decision marketing replacing gut instinct, and last-mile fulfillment providers driving instant gratification.

Specialty home furnishings retailer Z Gallerie has long operated a catalog and e-commerce site along with 57 physical stores, but the Los Angeles-based chain wants to update for the omnichannel era.

Thus Z Gallerie has selected the full suite of Aptos retail solutions in a full-service Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model to help the retailer streamline, optimize and integrate its omnichannel retail operations, while supporting new means of engaging with its customers.

Specialty fashion retailer Vanity is trying to make visiting its stores as rewarding an experience as possible.

Everyone knows shrink is a major issue, and retailers are continually rolling out more sophisticated means of preventing shrink. However, according to Fortune, Walmart’s shrink prevention efforts have included the use of “sci-fi” facial recognition technology to identify suspected shoplifters, and there may be privacy concerns. [Fortune]

Excess energy consumption in retail can exceed 30%, which means there is a huge opportunity for savings that many retailers s have not yet fully explored.

Retailers spend nearly $20 billion annually on energy expenses, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. By saving just 15% from optimizing operations and eliminating waste, we can save $3 billion as an industry.