News

By Amy Lally and Leah Abeles, Sidley Austin LLP

Acme Tools, a leading authorized online retailer of tools and equipment, has launched its new mobile version of AcmeTools.com for online customers using smartphones.  

Developed by BlueSky Technology Partners, the new mobile platform leverages Acme Tools' ongoing investment in IBM WebSphere Commerce to deliver a seamless online shopping experience regardless of how customers choose to browse and buy.

Mountain View, Calif. – Google is reportedly piloting a service known as In-Store Attribution Transaction Reporting in AdWords that lets retailers compare how their AdWords Internet search campaigns affect in-store sales. According to the Wall Street Journal, the service matches data from anonymous tracking cookies to in-store sales data provided by technology providers including DataLogix, Acxiom, LiveRamp, and Epsilon.

Deerfield, Ill. -- The rapid adoption of Walgreens’ Balance Rewards loyalty program, with nearly 80 million members, has earned the chain a ranking among top business technology innovators in the U.S.

Walgreens is ranked No. 60 on the 2014 InformationWeek Elite 100.

MasterCard is in the process of acquiring Pinpoint Pty. Ltd., an Australian provider of loyalty and rewards services to financial institutions across the Asia Pacific region. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2014.

Pinpoint was founded in 1984. Headquartered in Sydney, it has a growing footprint across the region into markets such as China, Hong Kong, India, Taiwan and Japan. Its customer base includes financial institutions and merchants.

Luxury brand Burberry has opened a new, tech-savvy flagship in Shanghai, its largest in China to date. Inspired by Burberry’s Regent Street flagship in London, the three-level store seamlessly blends digital and physical displays, immersing customers in the Burberry brand.  

Most U.S. retailers make their first international foray in contiguous markets such as Canada or Mexico for obvious reasons. However, for those interested in massive growth potential who have a long term perspective a more exotic market beckons.

In the last 12 months the buzz around omnichannel has become the most consistently discussed trend for major retailers. It’s always noteworthy when a trend emerges and becomes a part of the mainstream conversation so quickly, but what is even more noteworthy is how fast omnichannel has become standard operating procedure.