Industry News - January 9th, 2009
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RETAIL AND TECHNOLOGY NEWS |
H-E-B Mexico Rolls Out DemandTec Everyday Price Optimization
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Supermercados Internacionales H-E-B, S.A. de C.V., a wholly owned
subsidiary of H-E-B Grocery Company, deploys DemandTec's Everyday Price
Optimization software service.
H-E-B Mexico leverages DemandTec's price optimization software and
consumer demand modeling capabilities to gain insights into the buying
behavior of H-E-B's customers in the United States.
"We expect our investment in DemandTec to allow us to automate the
manual aspects of our pricing process, create pricing strategies that
will give H-E-B Mexico a competitive advantage in the marketplace, and
offer our customers the best prices possible," says Rafael Lopez, CIO
of H-E-B Mexico.
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Tickets.com Launches New Uptix Ticket Program
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Tickets.com launches Uptix from Givex, a jointly developed program for
storing additional value on event tickets. Integrating Givex technology
with Tickets.com's ticketing software; the Uptix program allows
individual tickets to have the ability to store data such as cash value
and select merchandise.
These tickets can then be used for redemption at various points of
purchase such as concessions and retail stands. The program augments
the role of a ticket beyond that of event access and allows single
ticket buyers and season ticket holders to manage the program
themselves on the Internet.
Enabled tickets also may serve as a catalyst for in-game promotions,
eventually including a point-based loyalty program where customers can
accumulate and redeem points for rewards.
"Givex has years of proven technology in the gift card industry and an
exceptional track record in customer service," says Steve DeMots,
senior vice president of business development, Tickets.com. "We are
pleased to be able to work with Givex to create such a user-friendly
product that will help our clients generate incremental sales and
marketing opportunities."
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Spartan Stores Selects KSS Retail PriceStrat Modeling and Optimization
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Spartan Stores implements KSS PriceStrat optimization suite for
real-time merchandising simulations. Spartan Stores distributes
products to more than 400 independent grocers and also owns and
operates 100 retail supermarkets in Michigan, including D&W Fresh
Markets, Family Fare Supermarkets, Felpausch Food Centers, Glen's
Markets and VG's Food Centers.
"We have a consistent focus on satisfying our customers' needs and
developing effective merchandising strategies," says Alan Hartline,
executive vice president of merchandising for Spartan. "After a
thorough evaluation process, we chose KSS Retail because of their
consistent results working with their retail customers. We look forward
to leveraging the predictive insight and modeling capabilities of
PriceStrat."
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Escalate Retail Partners with Fujitsu for Self-Service Guided Selling Capabilities
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Escalate's Guided Selling solution is bundled with Fujitsu's U-Serv
kiosks to provide retailers with a self-service package for decreasing
the demands on in-store personnel. This will be an integral part of
Fujitsu's "Univations" self-service initiative, with the goal of
complementing Fujitsu's self-checkout and POS solutions with
self-service kiosks and mobile commerce opportunities.
Similarly, the partnership will help Escalate Retail's Buy Anywhere,
Fulfill Anywhere Commerce capabilities that provide retailers with
tools that give their customers the flexibility and convenience to shop
however and wherever they choose.
In the near future, customers will be able to shop in-store kiosks from
Fujitsu deployed with Escalate's intelligent Guided Selling
application, freeing up sales associates to help others who need more
one-on-one assistance.
Escalate's Guided Selling tool helps shoppers navigate complex
transactions, such as shopping for a new digital camera without knowing
exactly which product fits their needs. Guided Selling also provides
opportunities to cross-sell and up-sell additional merchandise, such as
a camera bag and extra memory card.
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Gump's Goes Live on Ecometry Commerce Suite
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Gump's, an upscale San Francisco-based retailer of fine jewelry,
furniture and home decor, goes live on Escalate's Ecometry Commerce
Suite. Gump's also has selected Escalate Retail's integrated .net
e-Commerce solution that will provide the retailer with real-time
connectivity and functionality. Gump's expects to go live with the
.net e-commerce solution in its first quarter of 2009.
With continued growth in its online channel, Gump's recognized the need
for an order management system with the depth of functionality required
for the multi-channel retail space. The company looked to Ecometry for
a highly flexible, top-tier order management system to manage its
merchandising, orders, warehouse and campaigns across all of its
channels.
Since implementing Ecometry, Gump's has seen improvement in end-user
productivity. The software's fully GUI-based interface gives users
complete control over the application and enables contact center
representatives to provide superior customer service. Between the
user-friendly interface and Ecometry's ability to increase operational
efficiencies, Gump's has experienced material expense improvements in
their call center since launching the Ecometry system.
"Our launch of Ecometry was a resounding success," says Philip Moss,
vice president of IT and direct operations, Gump's. "Escalate Retail's
staff and our IT team both worked very hard on the implementation, and
we are proud of the results. The ability to own and manage our own
feature-rich application will have a significant impact on the success
of Gumps' multi-channel operations."
Sara Lee and IBM Sign Seven-Year Global Services Agreement
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Sara Lee signs a seven year agreement with IBM, which will manage and
maintain pieces of the consumer products company's global back office
operations. IBM will manage a portion of Sara Lee's North American and
European Finance (transaction processing) and Global Information
Services (applications development and maintenance) groups, as well as
the company's global indirect procurement activities.
The agreement between Sara Lee and IBM includes the following:
- Finance & Accounting Solution (F&A) -
This solution aims to provide significant savings to the company as it
increases the quality of process delivery, deploys new standardized
tools, utilizes IBM's Manila Global Delivery Center and dedicates
onsite F&A professional support during the transition process.
- Indirect Procurement Services - This includes
indirect procurement processes, strategic sourcing, category management
and transactional processes that are integrated with accounts payable
to enable compliance and drive savings.
- Application Development and Maintenance Service
- With online support from IBM's existing Centers of Excellence (CoE)
throughout the world, Sara Lee will utilize IBM's ADM model. IBM will
set up a Sara Lee CoE in India, where ADM services will be provided for
the company's global operations.
"IBM is a trusted and long-standing partner of Sara Lee, with deep
experience in large, global programs," says Theo de Kool, Sara Lee's
executive vice president and chief financial and administrative
officer. "Through their worldwide Centers of Excellence, IBM has
industry-specific competencies on a global scale and capabilities to
secure qualified resources."
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