Data & Analytics

GameStop’s business unit, the GameStop Technology Institute (GTI), has partnered with AT&T to develop technical capabilities that enable customers to interact seamlessly via their electronic devices with digital product promotional materials located on store shelves and within identified product communication zones.

Shoe Carnival is leveraging eBay Enterprise’s integrated technology and services to streamline its omnichannel operations, including retail order management, payments, fraud protection, ship-from-store and customer care.

eBay Enterprise’s modular solutions will provide the retailer with a secure engine to accept payments, drive down fraud rates and consolidate inventory across many of its stores to increase product assortment, while lowering fulfillment transit time and expense, according to the company.

San Mateo, Calif. - NetSuite Inc. has released an integrated solution with ChannelAdvisor.

Chicago – Retail is the top industry targeted for data breaches. According to the 2014 Global Security Report from cybersecurity provider Trustwave, retail made up 35% of attacks Trustwave investigated in 2013.

Food and beverage ranked second at 18% and hospitality ranked third at 11%. In addition, POS breaches accounted for 33% of Trustwave’s 2013 investigations, while e-commerce made up 54% of assets targeted and data centers comprised 10% of assets targeted. The median number of days from initial intrusion to detection was 87 days.

London – A group of U.K. retailers led by W.M. Morrison Supermarkets plc is reportedly seeking to extend the time period for which it can claim antitrust damages against MasterCard from 2006 to 1992. According to Bloomberg, this could add as much as $1.6 billion to the damages the retailers are seeking.

Louisville – Convenience chain Thorntons Inc. has implemented the Paytronix Loyalty Platform to support its new Refreshing Rewards customer loyalty program across 174 locations. Leveraging the Paytronix loyalty engine enabled the c-store chain to quickly test a variety of elements in a secure, market-focused pilot program and then rapidly roll out the program to all its stores.

Atlanta - Manhattan Associates Inc. is releasing a new capability within its omnichannel Order Management application. Known as Available to Commerce (ATC), this capability gives retailers the power to offer specific units of inventory available for sale in the most appropriate channel (online, store, same-day delivery, etc.) and then optimize how the order is fulfilled, all based on a variety of strategic planning and daily operational variables.

By now it’s old news that Apple plans to disrupt retail payment with its Apple Pay platform. However, lost in the hoopla surrounding Apple Pay was an interesting announcement that Apple is also working on a new interactive, piracy-proof digital music service that it hopes will bring consumers back to purchasing whole albums, as well as individual songs.

Amazon’s new “Wish List” deal with Twitter continues the evolution of Twitter from a channel for passive promotion to a channel for interactive customer engagement. By allowing consumers to directly add items they see in tweets to their Amazon Wish Lists without leaving Twitter, the arrangement both turns Twitter into an active platform for peer-to-peer, unpaid marketing and also helps keep Twitter users on Twitter for longer periods of time by extending its functionality.

Plug and Play brings together retailers and start-ups who offer specific technology and expertise that can relieve merchants’ pain points. Customer Disruption highlights one of those start-ups in each issue with a brief Q&A. This issue, the spotlight is on George Ruan, CEO of Honey.

What does Honey do?