News

Montpelier, Vt. – The Vermont state legislature has voted to raise the minimum wage in the state from $8.73 an hour to $10.50 an hour. The increase will occur gradually during a four-year period and Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin is expected to sign the bill.

“We're raising the minimum wage higher in each of the next four years, joining a growing number of states nationwide that are moving on their own in the face of congressional inaction," Gov. Shumlin said in a prepared statement.

San Diego - While showrooming, the process of researching in-store before buying online, remains popular among 76% of consumers, the emerging trend of webrooming, or researching online before buying in-store, is even more common, representing 88% of shoppers. According to “The Rise of Webrooming: A Changing Consumer Landscape,” a report from Interactions, 75% of webroomers believe they can find the lowest in-store price, while 72% prefer online product comparisons and 71% prefer online product research.

Westlake Village, Calif. - Senior retail marketers report that 38% of their total marketing spend is now devoted to digital. According to a research study released by Conversant, nearly 20% of retail marketers reported that digital accounts for 50% to 75% of their total marketing budget.

The new study found strong retailer interest in personalized marketing and advertising. Eighty-six percent of senior retail marketers said that individualized messages can be more effective than mass messages.

Munich, Germany - Contactless payment card shipments accelerated globally in 2013. According to figures released by the Smart Payment Association (SPA), contactless technologies were present on 37% of all smart payment cards shipped in 2013.

By far the greatest increase was experienced in the Asia Pacific region, where contactless shipments grew by 193%, compared to 2012. Other regions around the globe experienced strong growth rates, ranging from 45% in the Americas to 64% in Western Europe.

Alpharetta, Ga. – Three-quarters (74%) of businesses report that the time spent on social media has increased since last year, and 54% report that social spending has increased. According to a new study from Social Media Marketing University (SMMU), top social media expenditures include internal staff compensation (37%), social advertising (18%), external staff compensation (10%) and content (7%).

Other notable findings include:

• 60% report that content development requires the bulk of the time dedicated to social.

Armonk, N.Y. – IBM is releasing 'IBM ExperienceOne,' a new integrated portfolio of cloud-based and on premise offerings that help clients deliver deeper, more valuable customer engagements by bringing together marketing, sales and service practices. Built on best practices, IBM ExperienceOne delivers a set of pre-defined engagement solutions delivered with IBM consulting services and powered by its WebSphere Commerce, Customer Digital Experience and Enterprise Marketing Management software.

Dodgeville, Wis. – Lands’ End is running an omnichannel swimsuit promotion called the “Lands’ End Getaway Tour.” From May 17 through June 7, the Lands' End Getaway Tour will make stops in Atlanta, New York, Boston, Toronto, Chicago and Madison, Wisconsin, with personalized fittings and consultations.

In addition, Lands’ End is offering a website with videos on how to create a professional swimsuit fit experience and swim style tips from Glamour.

New York – Maxymiser, a global provider of unified customer experience optimization, is partnering with digital analytics consultancy Pointmarc. The partnership leverages Maxymiser's testing, personalization and targeting tools with Pointmarc's optimization team in an effort to deliver enhanced online experiences for both Maxymiser and Pointmarc clients.

Commerce solutions company Square has introduced Square Feedback, a new product that turns digital receipts into a channel between buyers and sellers.

Square Feedback prompts customers to send feedback about their experiences directly to business owners through their digital receipts. Sellers can also respond directly to customers, resolve issues one on one, and protect their reputations.

Square delivers more than 10 million digital receipts a month.

Kohl’s and Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions have partnered with Plug and Play for their newest program, Plug and Play Retail, to engage with startups that align with their developing technology initiatives.

Plug and Play Retail is the first brand and retail-focused startup accelerator bringing together a round-table of complementary partners to guide the direction of the program and help decide the startups accepted.