Walmart is out to improve the quality of product information available to consumers on the internet - particularly from social media sources - with a supplier data collection program that will launch later this year.
Mobile point-of-sale systems are intended to roam free, meeting and checking out customers wherever they may be, but many merchants are anchoring the devices to the counter as a replacement for traditional POS terminals.
Cross-border e-commerce is expected to exceed 3 billion consumers and $300bn by 2018, but to seize this opportunity, retailers must formulate strategies that meet the needs of global shoppers.
An old killer app rides again. Radio frequency identification will become a key component of the Internet of Things because it bridges the physical and digital worlds, enabling the identification of objects and linking them to the internet.
In one of the largest RFID projects undertaken in retail yet, Target will roll out radio frequency identification technology later this year for pricing and inventory control.
Walmart and Amazon have launched cyber attacks in China with the purest of commercial motives. Walmart is unveiling a mobile shopping app while Amazon is increasing its imported item count from 80,000 to 1.6 million.
While the economy recovered and retailers grew more optimistic, 2014 was "the year of the POS breach," with many highly publicized attacks compromising millions of personal records. As a result, some of the largest and most popular retail brands were severely damaged.
Seeing what is happening to their customers and feeling the heat from possible threats, technology companies are increasing spending on security for their own systems, according to a survey of chief financial officers. Meanwhile, incentives to spend big on security are still in short supply for retailers and other private companies.
Long a laggard in online sales, the Swedish retailer Ikea, which is privately held, has finally recognized the need for a more robust e-commerce presence.
