Omnichannel

Walmart’s first quarter sales were not great, but longer term success could be driven by an interesting range of pilot programs and expanding initiatives the company shared during a recap of its results.

Columbia, Md. – Micros Systems Inc. is introducing two solutions designed to allow retail and hospitality staff members to perform multiple activities from one device. The Micros MTablet E-Series operates on Microsoft Windows 8.1 Embedded Industry Pro in eight- and 11-inch versions, with the 11-inch version fully compatible with the Micros MStation base, providing staff the flexibility to be mobile or use it as a workstation option with full peripheral connectivity.

Optional sleeves for either MTablet size facilitate secure payment on the device.

Reston, Va. -- Desktop e-commerce spending in the first quarter of 2014 rose 12% year-over-year to $56.1 billion, marking the eighteenth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and fourteenth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth, according to comScore. M-commerce spending on smartphones and tablets added $7.3 billion for the quarter, up 23% vs. year ago, for a digital commerce spending total of $63.4 billion in the first quarter.

Other highlights from the first quarter included:

eBay Enterprise has released the latest versions of Magento Enterprise Edition (version 1.14) and Community Edition (version 1.9). Both editions include a new responsive reference design theme, Bill Me Later as a payment option and PayPal Express Checkout improvements.

Magento Enterprise Edition will also include faster search indexing. The upgrades make it easier and less expensive for retailers to provide seamless mobile experiences and provide new payment options for customers, improving conversion rates and sales.

Woodland Hills, Calif. — E-commerce and smartphones are re-shaping brick-and-mortar shopping center industry. In recognition of that trend, NewMark Merrill Cos. has launched BrightStreet Ventures, a technology affiliate focused on developing new technology platforms.

London -- British grocery giant Tesco is seeking to improve the customer checkout experience by piloting a new, high-speed retail checkout solution from NCR Corp. at its Tesco Extra 24-hour store in Lincoln, U.K. The solution uses innovative imaging technology from Datalogic that automatically finds the barcode on any side of the product without the need to orient the item on the conveyor belt. It is capable of scanning up to 60 items per minute, greatly speeding the transaction.

New York -- Google announced that it will accept PayPal as a method of payment, in addition to credit cards, carrier billing, and gift cards, for its Play Store. The announcement came as a surprise in that PayPal is essentially a competitor to Google’s own Wallet service.

Dedham, Mass. – Reflexis Systems Inc. is developing an application made with IBM Watson called Reflexis StorePulse that will issue alerts and tasks to regional and local store managers, based on local event and weather information, among other data, to plan their locations accordingly. The application is aimed at helping to maximize sales by ensuring each store has its finger on the local pulse.