News

Denver – In the past two years, the number of shoppers using mobile devices to make purchases has increased by 10 percentage points to 35% in 2014 from 25% in 2012. According to a new study by The Integer Group, increased purchasing by Hispanics, Asian-Americans, and the 15–34 and 35–49 age groups were largely responsible for this increase.

Pasadena, Calif. - German software provider Nemetschek AG is acquiring Bluebeam Software Inc., a developer of PDF-based collaboration solutions for the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry, for $100 million. Both firms focus on enabling project teams to build better by digitizing project information.

Arlington, Va. - The 2014 holiday season will see the highest levels of consumer spending on consumer electronics (CE) since 1994. According to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) holiday outlook, total tech spending during the holidays will increase 2.5% to reach a record $33.76 billion during the 2014 holiday season.

Dayton, Ohio - Nearly two-thirds (62%) of 400 digital marketers surveyed view improving customer satisfaction as the top reason to invest more in technology. Becoming more customer-centric is a top-two priority for 49% of respondent organizations.  

Irving, Texas – The Michaels Companies Inc. is launching its annual “Trick Your Pumpkin” Instagram contest Saturday, Oct. 4. Every Friday Oct. 10 - 31, Michaels will award a $250 Michaels gift card and gift basket to a randomly selected customer who creates a pumpkin craft.

San Francisco - Salesforce.com has delivered Desk.com for Retail, with features including new pay-as-you-go pricing, reporting tools and e-commerce integrations to transform how retailers deliver a personalized service experience to every customer. The new Desk.com for Retail includes snapshot reports of cases coming in from distributors and manufacturers, as well as one-click integration to retail platforms such as Big Commerce and Shopify.

Los Angeles - DinCloud, a cloud services provider that helps businesses migrate to the cloud through business provisioning, has released customized cloud services for the retail industry including hosted virtual desktops. Store owners and employees from traditional brick-and-mortar or online retailers can use the desktops to manage store operations remotely from any device including a desktop, laptop, or tablet.

New York -- RadioShack Corp. has agreed to a financing packaging arranged by its biggest investor, hedge fund Standard General, that would help ease the retailer’s cash crunch as it heads into the holiday selling season, Bloomberg reported.

New York -- By 2023, online grocery sales are projected to range between $80 billion and $123 billion according to statistics released by Steve Bishop of Brick Meets Click (BMC) in a presentation at The Food Institute webinar "Get In On The Growth of Online Shopping." If realized, at the middle of those two projections online grocery sales would exceed today's sales of the nation's largest supermarket chain, Kroger.

Winston-Salem, N.C. -- Krispy Kreme Doughnuts announced CFO Douglas R. Muir intends to retire in calendar year 2015. The chain will conduct a comprehensive search to identify his successor. Muir is expected to remain in his current role until his successor is in place and to provide ongoing support during the transition.