Omnichannel

New York -- Greg Buzek, president of IHL, which tracks mobile spending and forecasts for the retail and hospitality markets, offers analysis on the recently announced IBM-Apple partnership:
 
If IBM and Apple for retail were people on Facebook right now, the relationship status would say “It’s complicated."

VF Corp., the company behind popular brands such as The North Face, Timberland and Wrangler, relied on the strength of its 1,300 unit retail operation to drive sales during the second quarter.

San Mateo, Calif. - NetSuite Inc. a provider of cloud-based financials, ERP and omnichannel commerce software suites is acquiring London-based Venda, a provider of e-commerce solutions for an undisclosed amount. NetSuite says its acquisition of Venda builds on the momentum of NetSuite SuiteCommerce globally and supports NetSuite’s business expansion into the European market.

Williams-Sonoma has appointed Ronald R. Young SVP, global, as part of its strategy to grow the brand outside the United States.

“Global expansion is one of our most important initiatives, and I’m pleased to have Ron Young, with his more than 30 years of experience in global markets, leading our continued growth,” said president and CEO Laura Alber. “Ron’s deep understanding of the global retail landscape, and his financial discipline are the ideal combination of skills and experience to lead our global strategy.”

Montreal - In-store mobile device integration and e-commerce solutions, as well as inventory management and predictive analytics software, are the biggest technology priorities for independent brick-and-mortar retailers. According to the first annual Retail Tech Forecast of 640 independent retailers from commerce platform provider LightSpeed, the percentage of retailers deploying tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices for checking out shoppers (currently 17%) is expected to increase a whopping 170% in the coming years.  

eBay enabled record levels of e-commerce and transaction volume via its PayPal subsidiary during the second quarter ended June 30.

The global commerce platform and payments leader said revenue for the period increased 13% to $4.4 billion as the volume of e-commerce activity it facilitated (a metric eBay calls Enabled Commerce Volume or ECV) increased 26% to $62 billion. Net income increased 6% to $676 million, or 53 cents a share, compared to net income of $640 million, or 49 cents a share.

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.