Macy's is putting its money where its mouth is, promising to invest up to $1bn in technology and infrastructure to support online and omnichannel efforts.
Ken Hicks, Foot Locker chairman and CEO, took the reins of the retailer in 2007 as the United States was facing down its worst recession in decades. Under his leadership, the footwear and sports apparel company has managed to deliver 17 consecutive quarters of comparable store sales growth and its best-ever financial results for the 2013 fiscal year. Here, he speaks about the meaning of omnichannel.
Shopper distrust following a series of retail data breaches is high - three in 10 shoppers say they don't trust retailers to protect personal and financial data against cyber criminals.
Inventory management and predictive analytics software, in-store mobile device integration and e-commerce solutions are the biggest technology priorities for independent brick-and-mortar retailers, according to LightSpeed's first annual Retail Tech Forecast.
Specialty retailer Bed Bath and Beyond spent $68m in its recently completed first quarter, primarily for IT enhancements. "While we continue to review and prioritize our capital needs, we remain committed to making the required investments in our company to help position us for our long-term success," said CEO Steven Temares.
The results of a new data security survey of U.S. businesses should not be surprising, but they are certainly alarming. Even though high-profile data breaches such as Target and P.F. Chang's have been in the news since the start of the year, IT executives said their companies' data is not secure.
Walmart is rolling out a program to send shoppers e-receipts via its mobile app, and while they're surely thrilled to save a few trees the real impetus is the wealth of customer data it can provide.
The growing Internet of Things (IoT) will bring new opportunities and challenges, not the least of which will be increased spending in retail IT and advanced security concerns.
