Information Technology

Fulfilling the Promise of Channel-Agnostic Retailing

From May 2012 | By Diane Cerulli | Tags: Consider This, Information Technology

POV

Diane Cerulli

What makes the difference between competent customer service and inspired customer engagement? How can you advance from merely executing functions to fully commanding processes?

More importantly, how can you and your employees leverage those capabilities to address questions, demands and opportunities without limitations, to quickly get to “yes”?

What a Night

Windsor Fashions keeps prom dreams alive with SaaS

From May 2012 | By Deena M. Amato-Mccoy | Tags: Information Technology, Nuts & Bolts

Customer Insight

Deena M. Amato-Mccoy

Windsor Fashions keeps prom dreams alive with SaaS

It’s the most important night for many high schoolers. Last year the average family spent some $800 on prom, according to Visa – including tickets, flowers, shoes and, of course, the perfect dress. Many girls spend years imagining prom, and the dress has to be as memorable as the night itself.

Windsor Fashion understands the importance of finding the right dress. The Vernon, Calif.-based retailer, which has 66 stores in 15 states, uses a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for insight into trends, customer preferences and demand.

The Race to Relevance

Harnessing the cloud to maximize visibility

From May 2012 | By Fiona Soltes | Tags: Information Technology, Nuts & Bolts

New Search Technology

Fiona Soltes

Harnessing the cloud to maximize visibility

Web-only article

Surrounded by analysts, retailers, visionaries and media at the BloomReach launch party in late February, CEO and co-founder Raj De Datta had a moment of clear, poignant perspective.

Pat Connolly, executive vice president and CMO of Williams-Sonoma, was discussing the marginalization that threatens online retailers when consumers begin their searches at Amazon -- in effect, removing the retailers from the consideration set. What De Datta aims to do, however, is put web businesses at the center of it all instead.

What’s Driving IT Spending

Basic technologies and growth strategies vie for top dollar

From Apr 2012 | By Susan Reda | Tags: Cover Story, Information Technology, Mobile

Susan Reda

Basic technologies and growth strategies vie for top dollar

There was a time when retail CIOs could afford to be “fast followers,” waiting on the sidelines for a budding technology to mature before jumping in with both feet.

Not anymore. “We’ll wait and see” has been replaced by “we can’t implement fast enough” as CIOs adjust to the new world of consumer-driven tech cycles. After several years spent cost-cutting and working with miniscule budgets, retailers expect to boost spending on technology by 10 percent, on average, this year.

A Successful Brew

Platform, third-party expertise give DAVIDsTEA a more robust IT system

From Apr 2012 | By Karen M. Kroll | Tags: Information Technology, Nuts & Bolts

ERP

Karen M. Kroll

Platform, third-party expertise give DAVIDsTEA a more robust IT system

T ea consumption in Canada jumped by more than one-third between 2000 and 2008, according to government agency Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. DAVIDsTEA, a retailer of more than 150 blends of tea and related accessories, has capitalized on Canadians’ growing fondness for tea. Since 2008, the company has expanded from a single location to 70 stores across Canada, as well as a few in the United States; it also operates a growing e-commerce business. It opened more than 30 stores last year alone.

High Stakes

POS solution keeps Longchamp on the fast track

From Mar 2012 | By Len Lewis | Tags: Information Technology, Nuts & Bolts

Len Lewis

POS solution keeps Longchamp on the fast track

T he principal language of retailing isn’t English, French, Chinese or anything else in today’s global tower of Babel — it’s data. And getting that data quickly and consistently across all markets is a business imperative.

No one knows this better than Longchamp, the iconic Paris-based fashion retailer whose handbags and accessories have adorned the world’s chicest women for more than 60 years. The company hit a language barrier, though, when gathering global sales and customer data from disparate systems threatened to slow expansion.

Hear No Evil

In social media, listening can be the difference

From Mar 2012 | By M.V. Greene | Tags: Executive Suite, Information Technology

Social Retail / Tech

M.V. Greene

In social media, listening can be the difference

P eople are talking on social media, and retailers would do well to listen — and then comprehend, assess and act.

Such is the specter of social sentiment — the chatter, opinions, observations, reactions and emotions floating around on social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube, as well as on blogs and within comments sections. “Your customers are out there, and they’re talking about your products and services and your brand,” says Zach Hofer-Shall, a social intelligence analyst at Forrester Research.

ARTS Enables New Technology

From Feb 2012 | By Richard Mader | Tags: Consider This, Information Technology

Divisional Update

Richard Mader

The ninth annual RIS News/IHL Group Store Systems Survey, released in conjunction with a BIG Ideas session presented by ARTS, found that 75 percent of respondents cited mobile for associates or consumers as their company’s No. 1 priority in 2012. Mobile is no longer just about developing an iPhone application to offer promotions that drive consumers into stores; it is the hottest new POS device and a preferred method to arm associates to effectively service customers, and soon will be the most secure and convenient way to process payments.

ARTS Pavilion: Showplace for Hot Technologies

From Jan 2012 | By Richard Mader | Tags: Consider This, Information Technology

Divisional Update

Richard Mader

Any discussion of the practices that are changing the retail business must include mobile applications and social media, which provide innovative services to consumers and analytics to retailer operations, as well as the cloud computing that enables their rapid and relatively low-cost implementation. The ARTS Pavilion (booth 1951) at Retail’s BIG Show is an emporium for learning how to employ these technologies in your business and a shopping mall of related standards-based applications.

Above and Beyond

Gristedes overhauls its IT infrastructure

From Jan 2012 | By Sandy Smith | Tags: Information Technology, Nuts & Bolts

In-Store Network

Sandy Smith

Gristedes overhauls its IT infrastructure

All of the things that make Manhattan uniquely wonderful for retailers can also make it distinctively challenging. A dense population presents plenty of potential shoppers, but constant construction can lead to cut underground cable lines and technology failures. Crowded streets draw in shoppers, but delivery personnel must compete for the same doorways.