TECHNOLOGY

College students to boost back-to-school spending to all-time high
An uptick in college student enrollment will give a big boost to retailers' second biggest shopping season. Combined back-to-school and back-to-college spending is projected to reach $83.6 billion, up more than 10% from last year’s $75.8 billion, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights and Analytics.
Retail giant launches new services, tools for back-to-school
Walmart is making it easier for parents to stay on their game during this year's back-to-school shopping season. According to the National Retail Federation, this year's season is expected to be a strong one and start early. Walmart is rolling out new services to help shoppers easily find what they are looking for — in stores and online.

Walmart looks to help others with women's empowerment

Walmart has launched a digital platform to share tips and learnings that grew out of its five-year Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative. As part of the ambitious initiative, which Walmart completed in January, the chain sourced $20 billion from Women Owned Businesses (WOBs) for its U.S. business, increased sourcing from WOBs internationally, and trained more than 1 million women worldwide.
Specialty retailer integrates omnichannel experience

As Cole Haan expands its breadth, the retail experience must remain consistent — regardless of the touchpoint shoppers use. In partnership with Aptos, the specialty retailer now has a platform that delivers a seamless customer experience throughout the entire shopping journey. Regardless of whether shoppers visit one of the company’s 259 stores across 30 countries, or shop online, now they will get a unified experience.
Walmart hosts virtual commerce competition

Walmart’s technology incubator — called Store No. 8 — is on the hunt for cutting edge virtual reality (VR) solutions.
Prime Day knocks it out of the park — and not just with record sales

Amazon’s third annual Prime Day was its biggest shopping event yet — and the biggest day in its history for signing up new Prime members.
Amazon scores important win in huge foreign market

Amazon has won the right to sell groceries in India. The online giant currently sells groceries in India through a local partner. But it recently secured government approval to stock and sell its own food items, reported the Nikkei Asian Review.
Vineyard Vines uses social media data to drive sales

The brand best known for its smiling pink whale logo is improving pricing, design and buying decisions by using an innovative data source. By partnering with First Insight, Vineyard Vines will leverage the company’s online social engagement tools to gather real-time product pricing and sentiment data from its customers. This information will then be analyzed by First Insight’s predictive models.
Analysis: Prime Day a success in the eyes of consumers

Amazon's third annual shopping event was a success in the eyes of consumers this year, according to InfoScout and Market Track’s survey of shoppers on Prime Day.
Study: Shoppers feel good about Whole Foods' acquisition

Consumers are feeling so positive about Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods Market that more plan to shop there in the future. This was according to the “Amazon Shopper Sentiment Report” from ChargeItSpot. The study collected responses from over 900 shoppers at malls across the country, using its integrated survey capability, QuickPoll.