Data & Analytics

Mountain View, Calif. – Customer experience testing provider UserTesting is launching its free service Peek out of beta. Peek allows anyone to receive free five-minute videos of real people using their website, mobile site, or mobile app.

In roughly four months in beta, Peek achieved 40,000-plus user tests delivered, almost two years’ worth of videos watched, 202,000-plus video views, and more than 8,000 social postings and shares. Retailers including Staples and Wal-Mart have used Peek.

Amazon’s reputation as the online low price leader has come under attack from opponents of its dynamic pricing model and now a new tool from Savings.com is designed to help shoppers thwart the online giant’s algorithms.

PriceJump is the creation of Savings.com, a Web site that contends it gives shoppers the best deals on everything they want. The new service instantly compares Amazon product prices to prices around the web, dispelling the myth that Amazon always offers the best deals, according to Savings.com.

San Francisco -- Visa is launching a new service, Visa Checkout that enables consumers throughout the United States, Canada and Australia to pay for goods online, on any device, with just a few clicks.

Profitero, a leading global provider of online insights and e-commerce intelligence for retailers and brands, has appointed Keith Anderson as VP, strategy and insights, as part of its strategy to further expand into North America.

In this newly created role, Anderson will lead the continuous innovation of Profitero's online solutions, helping retailers and brands gain a deeper understanding of their online presence to optimize their online and in-store sales.

San Francisco -- Search ad spend increased 25% year-over-year and 2% quarter-over-quarter, according to Kenshoo, a leader in predictive media optimization technology.

Among the key findings in the research:

• Search click-through rate increased 26%, driving a 15% increase in clicks year-over-year;

• Social ad spend increased 51% year-over-year and 21% quarter-over-quarter; and

• Social impressions increased 13% year-over-year.

By Anders Ekman, DataMentors

Dublin, Calif. - Epicor Software Corp. has launched Epicor Retail Store Edition for Windows 8. The application gives retailers a POS solution that uses the Windows 8 operating system to empower store associates to deliver a personalized customer experience.   

Epicor Retail Store Edition for Windows 8 provides access to rich value-added customer and product information and allows associates to recommend or suggest products from an endless aisle. Other features include streamlined transactions and a more efficient checkout process.

Scholastic is unveiling a new multi-platform series, TombQuest, which includes five books by Michael Northrop and an online game.

TombQuest is aimed at eight- to 12-year-olds and is an addition to Scholastic’s three previous multi-platform series, which have published some 22 million copies since the first launched in 2008, and the accompanying websites have 3 million registered users.