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The Eye on Retail Information Systems
July 15, 2010
Volume 19 Issue 14


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North American consumers continue to embrace self-service technology, as transactions at self-service kiosks are set to surpass $740 billion in 2010, according to a new research study conducted by retail technology consulting firm IHL Group.



Join IHL President in a video discussion at Oracle Cross Talk regarding those retailers who do loyalty well; the impact on the company and margins regardless of whether there is a formal loyalty card or program.



North American consumers continue to embrace self-service technology, as transactions at self-service kiosks will surpass $740 billion in 2010. However, the rate of growth going forward may be tempered in favor of enabling consumer smartphones in the future, according to a new research study conducted by the IHL Group.



I recently returned from Oracle Retail CrossTalk 2010 where 124 retail executives from 63 companies converged in Chicago to weigh in on how retail has been redefined. Keynote sessions and panel discussions addressed how retailers can help to redesign the customer experience, reinvigorate strategies for operational excellence, and reimagine growth in their business. One of the panel discussions I attended tackled a challenging question that our readers face all the time - how will your store systems play a vital role in ensuring your that your company thrives? The answer: Customer centricity.



According to Computerworld, hackers have accessed the payment-processing system of Destination Hotels & Resorts.



Fluid Music Canada's Trusonic, Inc. today announced that The Pantry, Inc. will deploy Trusonic's music and messaging solution to certain of their 1,647 Kangaroo Express locations.



Epson America, Inc. announced today that Regis Corporation has selected the newly-released Epson TM-T88V single-station thermal printer for an 8,000-unit rollout to Regis Corporation's corporate salon locations throughout North America, including Supercuts, Cost Cutters, Regis Salons and MasterCuts. Regis Corporation chose the Epson printer because of its industry-leading energy efficiency, operational cost savings and high reliability.



Royal Caribbean International CIO Bill Martin is feeling the demand for new IT projects. The company launched the biggest cruise ship ever built late last year, with plans for more new ships this year and next. As up to 5,400 guests roll on board the Oasis of the Seas, they bring ever-rising expectations for technology, and the cruise line also relies on IT to serve that mass of vacation-loving humanity.



Social media and in-store retailing continue to strengthen their relationship. Photo kiosks located in Target and CVS stores will soon allow Facebook members to upload and print photos from the social media site, thanks to an update of the Kodak Picture Kiosk Software version 4.0 that will be live in stores by September 2010, according to published reports.



NCR Corp. is expanding its Blockbuster Express movie rental kiosks to 555 QuikTrip stores in nine states.



Retail Anywhere recently announced Nakajima USA, master licensee for Sanrio Inc., has selected Retail Anywhere's POS and Enterprise applications to support U.S. retail operations and future growth plans.



Versatile Systems Inc. announces that Avalon Carpet Tile & Flooring, Mohawks' Floorscapes 2009 National Dealer of the Year has extended its leadership in the retail flooring marketplace with the deployment of Versatile's Mobiquity Kiosk solution. Avalon, ranked 7th among the nation's top 75 flooring retailers, has installed Versatile's Mobiquity Kiosks at all of their state-of-the-art showroom locations.



Lamb's Markets, a five-store independent grocer here, has rolled out technology to address "sweethearting" - deliberate non-scans by cashiers - as well as cashiers' mistakes.



The iPod may have started a music revolution, but two Laval men are hoping it can also start a revolution in the restaurant industry.





A new white paper, co athored by Professor Alan Braithwaite, estimates that data inaccuracy among the top five retailers and their suppliers is costing as much as 1.4 billion per year- one per cent of total revenue, and a considerably higher figure than previously estimated.



Swedish women's fashion and home furnishings retailer, Indiska, has implemented a core retail platform based on Oracle Retail merchandising applications, the Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 and Oracle Fusion Middleware in only nine months.



Teradata Corporation said that DIRECTV will implement Teradata's Active Enterprise Data Warehouse system in its new data center in Phoenix.



Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison revealed a major win in the retail marketplace with the news that the world's second-largest retailer, Carrefour Group, had purchased the Oracle Exadata database machine. The Carrefour sale was part of Oracle's successful moves into such major global corporations as Bank of America and Thomson Reuters.



Murphy's USA - a company with more than 1,000 gas stations next to retail partner Wal-Mart - last week began testing a rewards program with patrons via the location-based service Whrrl. For the month of July, the El Dorado, AR-based brand is rewarding Whrrl users who "check in" at its stations with a bevy of ongoing prizes - most notably giving one daily winner a digital coupon for $50 in free gas.



After three years in development, Oracle Corp.'s much-anticipated Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition 11g (OBIEE) suite will be formally released at an event in London on Wednesday.



Customer loyalty programs are stuck in the dark ages, especially as they pertain to social media. However, Tasti D-Lite, the frozen dessert chain popular in New York, is taking one step towards the light with its social media rewards program.



Associated Wholesale Grocers here has partnered with San Francisco-based marketing company You Technology to offer AWG members new loyalty-marketing and paperless-coupon programs, the companies said Monday.





The Jean Coutu Group on Monday launched the first application in Canada that allows the refilling of prescriptions from a smart phone without going through a mobile website.



Carphone Warehouse is to use Accertify's Interceptas software in its attempt to prevent online fraud.



Target deploys the Shopper Insights solution from DemandTec to break down sales trends by penetration and buy-rate, shopping trip statistics, shopper segment. Target uses the solution to make more localized merchandising and marketing decisions that improve the relevance and value of Target's offerings for their guests.



iGoDigital, a market and technology provider in Personalized Product Recommendations, announced that Staples has replaced its cart-level product recommendations system with iGoDigital. The Internet's largest office superstore, ranked #2 on the Internet Retailer 500 with more than $9.8 billion in annual sales, selected iGoDigital based on its proven record of success with 6 of the top 10 online retailers.



Kraft Foods yesterday released an iPad app it developed to provide parents with an interactive resource to help them teach their children valuable cooking knowledge, smart eating habits and basic kitchen skills.



On June 24, Coldwater Creek Inc. launched a mobile commerce site optimized for iPhone and Android smartphones, enabling easy viewing and navigation compared to shopping the e-commerce site on those devices.



AT&T has entered into a partnership agreement with Apriva to allow merchants use smartphones as point-of-sale devices that accept credit and debit card transactions.



Imagine an online store that replicates the experience of stepping into a boutique.



Smart phone users will have a way to order refills at the pharmacy, and find out when and where to go for them, with a new app from TeleManager Technologies.



About 170 banks offer Popmoney, a service that lets you transfer money from your savings or checking account online to another person's account at any participating bank. You just need the payment amount and the person's email address and phone number. If your bank doesn't offer the service, you can't send money, but you can receive it by entering your account information at Popmoney.com.





Bi-Lo here has selected the VeriBalance cash office management system from Balance Innovations, Lenexa, Kan., to optimize the cash office workflow in its 207 stores.



U.S. Bank and The Kroger Co. today announced a strategic alliance that will give Kroger customers a suite of payment products.



Tesco Plc on Jul. 9 signed a cooperative agreement with Lenovo Group Ltd to acquire recycling service of used IT products with environment-friendly standards.



As part of its strategic initiative, DinoSol, the Spanish grocery retail group, has selected Oracle Retail planning applications. This is expected to help Dinosol in improving performance and profitability across its four store formats.



As companies have become increasingly more complex - but at the same time more integrated - the need for additional cross collaboration and more effective leveraging of the resources at their disposal has become increasingly significant.





Dole Fresh Fruit, a subsidiary of Dole Food Co., Inc., headquartered in Westlake Village, CA, now is using all-plastic pallets with embedded RFID tags to ship some of its fruit and vegetable products within North America.





We are delighted to be a part of such an important cause, said Sue Welch, CEO, TradeStone Software. Our company strongly believes in the support of charitable giving and social advocacy, and we encourage all of our employees to get involved in causes that matter to them. Our donation to RetailROI is particularly satisfying because it provides aid to the millions of vulnerable children around the world.



Lamps Plus is a specialty lighting retail chain in the U.S., with 45 stores throughout the western and southwestern states, in addition to catalogue and Internet sales. All retail locations and customers are served by an 800,000 square foot distribution center in Redlands, CA that houses approximately 15,000 SKUs including lighting products, ceiling fans and home furnishings.



Manhattan Associates, Inc. today announced that Leroy Merlin, one of France's home improvement retailers, has chosen Manhattan's Warehouse Management, Supply Chain Intelligence and Extended Enterprise Management solutions as the supply chain technology components to optimize and streamline its distribution operations.



Alfa-Beta Vassilopoulos, a food retailer based in Athens, Greece, and part of the Brussels, Belgium-based Delhaize Group, has experienced a 16 percent year-on-year increase in the number of CHEP pallets it handles - and a resulting boost to its supply chain efficiencies - as the number of its suppliers joining the pallet network continues to grow.



Intelligent Global Pooling Systems (iGPS Company, LLC) announced today that ConAgra Foods has begun shipping its products throughout the United States on iGPS' all-plastic pallets with embedded RFID tags, commencing June 1.



Allurent has announced that babycottons, a specialty apparel company, has deployed Allurent on Demand's interactive merchandising platform to enhance its e-commerce site.



NGC today announced that SPANX has begun implementation of NGC's e-PLM and e-SPS software for PLM and global sourcing. NGC's software is helping the company increase speed to market and improve organization, collaboration and communication between designers, factories and employees.



Ford Retail, Europe's largest Ford dealer group, will implement Syncron's Global Inventory Management solution to raise customer service and simultaneously reduce service parts inventory.



Regional wholesaler Affiliated Foods has boosted productivity, order accuracy and service levels through multiple applications of a voice-enabled warehouse solution it installed five years ago.



QKL Stores Inc., a regional supermarket chain in Northeastern China, today announced the implementation of a state-of-the-art logistics management system in its new Harbin-based distribution center.





American Eagle Outfitters on Tuesday announced locations for the 77kids clothing stores it plans to open in July.



During the summer, retailers typically have more "down" time as consumers head outdoors. So now is the perfect time for retailers to evaluate their IT systems and processes and determine how to generate more value from them.



Pilot Travel Centers LLC and Flying J Inc. announced today the completion of the merger of the two companies, creating an expanded network of more than 550 interstate travel centers and travel plazas focused on superior customer service and enhanced offerings for professional drivers and traveling motorists.



The National Retail Federation welcomed a provision in financial services reform legislation passed by the House today that will help hold down the $20 billion in debit card swipe fees charged annually by the banking industry and allow merchants to give discounts to customers who don't use credit cards.



Smurfit-Stone Container Corp., a U.S. maker of corrugated packaging, emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and will begin trading tomorrow on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SSCC.



Import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to be up 16 percent in July compared with the same month a year ago, but double-digit increases seen in recent months should taper offer this fall as retailers cautiously manage their inventories, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.



After seeing chip sales decline in 2009, the semiconductor industry's fortunes are looking brighter in the coming years, according to IDC.



The parent of the Uno Chicago Grill pizza chain has won court approval for its bankruptcy reorganization plan, less than six months after it sought protection from creditors.



Wal-Mart Inc.'s Sam's Club will begin offering loans of up to $25,000 to members in an effort to set itself apart from other warehouse chains and build goodwill to bring in more business.



Concept Development Partners LLC plans to buy the struggling Columbus-based restaurant chain, pending bankruptcy court approval, for $24.8 million in cash and assumed debt, according to documents filed Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Pittsburgh.





Datalogic S.p.A. announces the acquisition, through its subsidiary Datalogic Scanning Holdings Inc., of the entire share capital of Evolution Robotics Retail, Inc., a company located in California with unique expertise in visual pattern recognition technology for use currently in retail loss prevention and productivity applications.



In response to increasing global demand, Kronos Incorporated has extended its reach into Spain and Portugal through a reseller agreement with Group Seidor, a leading international technology solutions provider.



Despite the tough economic conditions, many Big Ticket retailers have posted positive growth in 2010, and most expect this trend to continue in the coming months. According to Furniture Today's 2010 Exclusive Survey of Top 100 U.S. Furniture Stores, nearly 40 of the Top 100 companies have opened stores or say they will be opening more stores in 2010 and 2011.



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