Evan Schuman

Larry Buresh, the CIO of the 1,138-store CSK auto-parts chain, said he knew that his current store technology was out-of-date and not especially competitive, but he also knew that the short-term productivity cost—not to mention the actual dollars and time investment—of a major, enterprisewide upgrade was not practical. Buresh’s answer? Replace all of the hardware, […]

Contactless payments—whether they’re made using a fob dangling from a keychain at a gas station, an RFID chip embedded in a cell phone or a new contactless credit/debit card—have now moved from the experimental to the real-world stage. This is primarily thanks to a pair of crucial developments announced in June by Chase Manhattan of […]

Global retail IT spending among midmarket companies is expected to sharply increase in the next few years, from about $22 billion last year to almost $31 billion by 2009, an almost 41 percent increase, according to a new report from technology analysis firm AMI Partners. AMI Partners Inc. defined the midmarket retailer as one with […]

With American retailers preparing to replace their aging point-of-sale units at record rates, a retail POS vendor called VeriFone wants to flood checkout lanes with Linux-based full-motion video, 65,356-color displays and digital stereo sound. The new unit—dubbed the MX870—is designed to deliver animated ads and demos in a loud, attention-demanding manner, which is not hard […]

When JP Morgan Chase—the nation’s largest issuer of credit cards—announced last week that it was incorporating contactless payment capabilities in all upcoming credit cards, it was a huge legitimizing moment for contactless. It generated lots of consumer buzz for the feature that Chase calls “Blink” and it is most likely the first RFID-enabled payment device […]

SAP AG opened the latest volley in what has become a series of charges and countercharges between it and its former Retek acquisition target Wednesday by amending its Safe Passage program to provide incentives for Retek customers to jump ship. Among the lures: a partial credit of the user’s original Retek software licensing (no floor […]

The CIO of the $3 billion Wawa convenience food chain was frustrated that various business units saw business data in different formats—and, consequently, were basing decisions on different numbers. So, he sought bids to consolidate all retail software systems and present a more unified view. CIO Neil McCarthy eventually awarded the project to SAP, for […]

Barb Seitz’s craft business is doing well, but the owner of Barb’s Custom Sewing needs to sells many of her products on the road, often at trade shows. Today’s wireless POS (point-of-sale) technology allows her to process orders in the field, but she has received an unexpected bonus: lower transaction fees because she rarely if […]

One large national retailer has started quietly testing a university-created robot designed to help visually impaired consumers navigate store aisles and find their desired products. The robot—named RG, for Robotic Guide—is the creation of Vladimir Kulyukin, an assistant professor of computer science at Utah State University and the director of the university’s Computer Science Assistive […]

Little E-Commerce is turning 11 years old this year and, like its human counterparts, this is an awkward part of its corporate adolescence. It’s no longer the cute little tyke from ’95 and ’96, with those adorable Web sites selling dog food from around the world, which its corporate parents dutifully placed on their boardroom […]

There are tons of practical definitions of how using technology in retail is strategic versus tactical. One definition we’re fond of is quite practical: Using technology to truly help your customer is strategic, in that it will make those customers more likely to repeatedly come back and spread favorable word-of-mouth endorsements. Using technology to address […]

Point-of-sale terminal shipments grew about 8 percent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa last year compared with a 5 percent annual increase in 2003, according to a new market share study released this week from the IHL Consulting Group. U.S. POS shipments increased almost twice as much (15 percent) during the same time period, […]