Retail

Whether it be a difference in personal tastes or a case of doubling up of gifts, in the days since Christmas countless numbers of people have been braving the queues at refund counters in stores around the world looking to exchange unwanted gifts. Online retailer Amazon is looking to make such hassles a thing of the past with the company being awarded a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a system that would allow users to exchange unwanted gifts purchased online before they’ve even been dispatched. Read More

In the early days of PC gaming most people got their gaming fix from games delivered by mail order. As sales increased, retail distribution of games on media such as floppy disks, CDs and eventually DVDs took over. Now further evidence of the changing gaming market landscape has been provided by market research company, The NPD Group. According to its PC Games Digital Downloads: Analyst Report, digital distribution is close to overtaking retail as the most popular form of distribution of PC games. The report says that 21.3 million PC full-game digital downloads were purchased online in the U.S. in 2009 compared to 23.5 million physical units purchased at retail in the same period – a difference of just 2.2 million. Read More

Internet shopping is a true marvel of the modern age. Not only does it open up whole new worlds of temptation but it can also save you money. And it does away with annoying or incompetent sales personnel. Despite all of its benefits, buying online is somewhat lacking in one important area - you can't try before you buy, something particularly important when shopping for your clothes. However, with the Point-Of-Sale kiosk concept from Intel, the two experiences might at last find common ground to become the much-needed savior of High Street shopping. Read More

Sony Electronics has launched the GreenFill recycling service, an extension of its Take Back program using in-store drop-boxes for the collection of unwanted portable electronics good - around 80% of which currently end up in landfill. Read More

January 16, 2008 Despite the company name, Micro Industries® new release screen is anything but small. The high-definition (1080p) Touch&Go Messenger 65 is geared for retail customers to create interactive in-store messaging on a super-sized 65” screen. Read More

June 14, 2007 A knowledgeable store assistant who knows what to suggest at the right time can mean the difference between a t-shirt sale and a whole outfit - not to mention making shopping a much more pleasant experience for the consumer. Motorola have just released the fascinating new MC17 handheld device for retail outlets that acts as a virtual shop assistant as a customer carries it around a store. Customers can use it to locate items, check pricing, options and availability, see related or complementary items, scan coupons and even whizz through the checkout process - and it's an ideal platform for intelligent cross-promotion and pinpoint-targeted advertising. Read More

May 30, 2007 With computerisation now an integral part of most retail store infrastructures and the general tech-savviness of the population underpinned by a new generation raised on computer games and the internet, it will be interesting to see how quickly very sophisticated systems come to market. A glimpse at what’s possible in the very near future came this week when HP showed off its Retail Store Assistant, an experimental system designed to enhance the consumer shopping experience and improve efficiency for retailers by bringing the power of online access to brick-and-mortar stores. The idea is that the customer swipes their loyalty card on entering the store, receiving a printout that includes a personalized shopping list, relevant coupons, notice of associated store discounts or sales, and even a map to where the items can be found in the store. Read More

July 26, 2006 A picture might be worth 1000 words but a nice chart can tell a hell of a story and this one clearly illustrates how the channel utilization of banks has evolved over the past five years. Financial Insights has released a report examining the way in which customers interact with their banks. Comparing 2001 and 2006 survey data the findings show minimal changes in branch and ATM use and call centre and Internet channels enjoyed significant growth. Read More

April 18, 2006 As product lifecycles grow impossibly short and the public remains as fickle as ever, one of the most vexing problems facing supply chain managers worldwide is persistent and pervasive out-of-stocks at the retail store shelf. Help may be at hand though, with the launch next month of a new book entitled “Flowcasting the Retail Supply Chain.” To be released on May 21, 2006 at the Retail Systems Conference in Chicago, the new book reveals how a single forecast conducted at the retail shelf level can drive the entire retail supply chain, eliminating forecasting at all other nodes. The book suggests by using "Flowcasting," instead of forecasting at each level of the supply chain, trading partners will be able to be able to remove US$600 Billion (USD) worth of costs out of the US$10.36 Trillion Global Consumers Goods Industry. Read on to see the praise the book has earned already from those who have seen advanced copies. The first five chapters of the book can also be downloaded free of charge … Read More