Game teams up with IBM to improve its online marketing effort-- and gets a cloud-based system providing personalised product recommendations to individual customers visiting its website.

The software GAME started using includes IBM Digital Analytics, IBM Product Recommendations and IBM Marketing Center. The combination tracks the behaviour of website visitors (800000 per week the retailer says) in real-time, allowing the retailer to push personalised messages, visitor re-targeting and offer/promotion recommendations relevant to the visitor in question.

The system also caters for visitors using mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets.

According to a GfK survey price competition is set to become a "less significant" retail factor in the future-- instead the internet remains "extremely important," together with mobile communications and sustainability.

Developments in mobile communications, social media and market transparency are also becoming more important, while sustainability is a good means for retailers to add emotional added value to customers.

The results cover an online survey run from October to December 2012 taken by GfK and university retail experts and retailer.

The survey ranks the internet as top participant priority in both current (89%) and future (93%) timeframes. On the other hand price competition relevance drops from 84% (current) to 67% (future).

Apple finds itself facing a class action suit from its retail workers-- a pair of Apple Store employees claim they lost up to $1500 in unpaid overtime yearly due to too frequent bag searches.

According to former employees Amanda Frlekin and Dean Pelle (who worked in New York and Los Angeles stores respectively) Apple demands bag searches whenever a worker leaves the premises on lunch hours and at the end of the day. Supposedly an anti-theft measure, the “personal package and bag search” policy apparently demands 5-10 minutes of "off-the-clock" daily waiting, adding up up to $1500 a year in unpaid overtime (Apple pays $18.75 an hour).

Such a sum might not sound like much when one takes the profits Apple makes into consideration-- but since bag searches are a company-wide procedure Apple faces a potential liability worth $45 million at the face of its 30000 retail workers spread across the globe.

Apple does not provide comment on the lawsuit as yet.

Carphone Warehouse (CPW) sees a "good" fiscal Q1 2013 with sales growing by 10.6% Y-o-Y (or 13.2% if one excludes France) after it completes the acquisition of the Best Buy 50% stake in CPW Europe.

The acquisition is worth $775 million in cash and stocks, and will be fully consolidated within the CPW group.

Driving CPW sales are strong growth in the postpay category in the UK and consumer preferences shifting towards high-end smartphones.

"We believe the Group is well positioned following the strategic moves we have made and we are focused on replicating the UK's operational execution across Europe and bringing our Connected World capabilities to other business partners, including our recently announced partnerships with Media Markt/Saturn and Metro Group," CPW CEO Roger Taylor says.

The Metro board manages to win one against Media-Saturn founder Erich Kellerhals over who calls the shots in the largest European CE retailer-- Reuters reports the Federal Supreme Court dismisses the Kellerhals complaints against the Metro advisory board.

The case was an appeal against an earlier, similar decision taken by the Munich Higher Regional Court.

Metro says it now has "legal and planning security," even if the courts fail to decide on a settlement between the two parties.

"We hope that the decision of the Supreme Court forms a basis for further pacification between shareholders," the retailer continues.

Office product chain Staples pilots what it describes as future of retail-- a pair of Omnichannel Stores combining an expansive retail network with the Staples.com online store, the second biggest in the world.

Visitors can browse and order through up to 100000 items (including CE, furniture, school supplies and cleaning items) on Staples.com kiosks. Once they finish orders, customers can complete transactions at the kiosks or store register, with either home deliver or in store pickup.

A "Business Lounge" provides meeting space and workstations for mobile professionals, while EasyTech and Copy & Print spaces offer consultation areas for small business customers.

In response to growing competition from Android smartphones Apple plans an iPhone sales and marketing revamp within its brick and mortar outlets, 9to5Mac reports.

According to "multiple people" the company organised a so-called secretive summit for Apple Retail Store Leaders from around the world, where CEO Tim Cook "noted his dissatisfaction that approximately 80% of all iPhones are not purchased from an Apple Store."

Making matters uglier are rumours of carrier stores giving salespeople incentives for selling non-iPhone smartphones.

Dutch CE retailer De Harense Smid gets a new breath of life just a day after it declares bankruptcy-- a deal with Mikro-Electro saves 20 of the retailer's outlets.

The deal also covers 300 (out of 550) employees, and Mikro-Elektro will take care of outstanding customer orders, payments and repairs.

De Harense Smid currently has 46 outlets, 43 in the Netherlands and 3 in Belgium.

Established in the 1800s, the retailer was hit hard by the current economic downturn, towering debt and competition Continue reading...