Data & Analytics

Lowe’s has integrated Point Inside's StoreMode mobile shopper engagement platform into its mobile app to improve the in-store customer experience, just in time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Shoppers at all Lowe's locations will be able to use the Product Locator capability to search for products and instantly see where they are located on a detailed store map using Lowe's iOS and Android mobile apps or Lowe's mobile-optimized website.

By Andrew Kokes, global VP, marketing & product management, Sitel

One of the most significant trends in customer engagement over the past several years is the rise of social media outside marketing and inside customer service. Social media is moving beyond contacts and interactions to a culture of community and collaboration for the most engaged and customer-centric companies.

Framingham, Mass. -- Staples officially launches Staples Connect, an offering that lets customers’ home or office technology interact and be controlled by a single app. With the touch of a button, in-store and online Nov. 27, Staples Connect lets customers shut down their office, turning off lights, lowering shades and locking doors, while at the same time turning on their lights and heat at home.

Walmart’s opponents are a creative lot when it comes to thinking up new ways to vilify the company. The most recent example involves data collection and Walmart’s use of personal information which is designed to feed into the real and imagined concerns American’s have regarding the NSA’s spying on American citizens.

Independent agency network Project: WorldWide and its shopper engagement agency, Shoptology, have named Ken Madden as head of digital at Shoptology. Madden will report directly to Shoptology CEO Charlie Anderson.

San Francisco – Seventy-three percent of consumers think that companies are paying more attention to generating sales across multiple channels than they are in delivering a seamless customer service experience across those same channels, according to a global survey of 7,000 consumers in seven countries. Meanwhile, when consumers can’t get an answer or fast response elsewhere, they are falling back to phone support as their primary contact method.

Boston – College students are planning to buy holiday gifts that offer experiential value or economic flexibility and will frequent discount stores, according to a new survey of roughly 1,000 college students from consumer marketing firm Fluent.

Famous footwear may have generated record third quarter sales, but parent company Brown Shoe was unwilling to get too ambitious with holiday expectations given uncertainty it sees around promotional activity and consumer sentiment.