Omnichannel

The electronic currency known as bitcoin allows small- and medium-size companies to reach more customers by opening new markets that were previously unreachable, the co-founder of a company that allows businesses to use bitcoins said in testimony this week before two Senate subcommittees. And it appears that federal authorities are open to its development.

Redmond, Wash. -- Canadian pharmacy retailer The Jean Coutu Group Inc. has selected Microsoft Dynamics for Retail to manage all its retail operations, from its headquarters down to the point-of-sale devices in stores. Jean Coutu will deploy Microsoft Dynamics to more than 400 stores, 3,000 POS systems and 11,500 devices with implementation to start in 2014.

Despite its continuing turnaround efforts, Sears Holdings widened its loss in the third quarter after sales fell at both Sears and Kmart.

The company reported a net loss for the quarter ended Nov. 2 of $534 million, or $5.03 a share, from $498 million, or $4.70 a share, a year earlier.

San Jose, Calif. -- Tech-savvy shoppers overwhelmingly look for ways to use smartphones and the Internet to save time and money while shopping in stores, according to new research from Cisco.

Macy’s flagships in Herald Square, New York, and Union Square, San Francisco, are the first major retail locations to deploy Shopkick’s Apple iBeacon-based presence signal. The trial is in closed beta and is anticipated to go live to Shopkick users within weeks.

Los Angeles -- Women are more responsive to mobile alerts detailing discounts and more likely than men to shop in-store to save on shipping costs, according to recent data from fashion shopping app Snapette, a business unit of PriceGrabber. The survey revealed that mobile ad spend grew by 81% this year, with women aged 25-34 driving the highest click through and conversation rates.

Austin, Texas -- Retail Systems Research (RSR) today launched the RSR Omni-channel Maturity Survey, an online self-assessment tool that helps retailers determine where they are on the road to omni-channel maturity. Sponsored by Starmount, the survey enables retailers to understand the traits of today’s omni-channel leaders and the technology infrastructure that is required for omni-channel retailing.

Boston – Despite conventional industry wisdom, shoppers who use mobile devices for showrooming are almost twice as likely to purchase from the retailer in-store or online (38%) than buy elsewhere (21.6%). A new study from e-commerce technology provider SeeWhy, “Showrooming Realities: When Worlds Collide,” also shows that one third (33%) of more 60,000 consumers surveyed who owned a mobile device had used a device as part of their shopping process, and 12% do it routinely.