Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

newsworthy

JDA partners with Google on retail planning tool

Retail.me uses Google Cloud Platform to calculate consumer preferences for retail store planning.

JDA Software Group Inc. has partnered with Google Inc. to create a cloud-based assortment planning tool called Retail.me, aimed at retailers who are adapting their brick-and-mortar stores from static shelves to an omnichannel, mobile-driven shopping model.

Customers in the information age have come to expect interactive, visual, and responsive shopping experiences, adding new challenges for retailers who are already struggling to adapt to omnichannel operations, Scottsdale, Ariz.-based JDA says. To meet that challenge, JDA teamed up with the Internet search giant to build an application on its Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Bruce Bordelon, technical solutions director at Google, told attendees at the JDA Focus user group meeting in Nashville on Monday.


The result is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering that runs on the GCP, allowing JDA to supply the code and while Google provides the core infrastructure, data analytics, and machine learning that power it, Bordelon said.

Retail.me is designed to make the user experience of in-store shopping more similar to online shopping, by enabling retail planners to align their product selection with customer preferences based on expected local demand, according to JDA.

JDA's platform predicts that demand by using data science to segment consumer groups based on their actual buying behavior, instead of generic demographics, JDA CEO Baljit Dail said.

The Latest

More Stories

plane hauling air freight cargo

Global air cargo rates reached 2024 high point in November

Worldwide air cargo rates rose to a 2024 high in November of $2.76 per kilo, despite a slight (-2%) drop in flown tonnages compared with October, according to analysis by WorldACD Market data.

The healthy rate comes as demand and pricing both remain significantly above their already elevated levels last November, the Dutch firm said.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

containers stacked at a port

Supply chain execs wary of three trends in 2025, Moody’s says

Three issues ranking at top of mind for supply chain executives in 2025 will be supply chain restrictions, reputational risk, and quantifying risk exposure, according to Moody’s, a global integrated risk assessment firm.

Each of those points could have a stark impact on business operations, the firm said. First, supply chain restrictions will continue to drive up costs, following examples like European tariffs on Chinese autos and the U.S. plan to prevent Chinese software and hardware from entering cars in America.

Keep ReadingShow less
youngster checking shipping details on smartphone

Survey: older generations are unaware of holiday shipping deadlines

As holiday shoppers blitz through the final weeks of the winter peak shopping season, a survey from the postal and shipping solutions provider Stamps.com shows that 40% of U.S. consumers are unaware of holiday shipping deadlines, leaving them at risk of running into last-minute scrambles, higher shipping costs, and packages arriving late.

The survey also found a generational difference in holiday shipping deadline awareness, with 53% of Baby Boomers unaware of these cut-off dates, compared to just 32% of Millennials. Millennials are also more likely to prioritize guaranteed delivery, with 68% citing it as a key factor when choosing a shipping option this holiday season.

Keep ReadingShow less
shopper returning purchase with smartphone

E-commerce retailers brace for surge in returns

As shoppers prepare to receive—and send back—a surge of peak season e-commerce orders this month, returns will continue to pose a significant cost for the retail industry, with total returns projected to reach $890 billion in 2024, according to a report released today by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Happy Returns, a UPS company.

Measured over the entire year of 2024, retailers estimate that 16.9% of their annual sales will be returned. But that total figure includes a spike of returns during the holidays; a separate NRF study found that for the 2024 winter holidays, retailers expect their return rate to be 17% higher, on average, than their annual return rate.

Keep ReadingShow less
screenshot of agentic AI for logistics

HappyRobot lands $15.6 million backing for its agentic AI

San Francisco startup HappyRobot has gained $15.6 million in venture funding for its AI platform that automates the communication needs of freight brokerages and other logistics users such as third-party logistics providers and warehouses.

The “series A” round was led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation from Y Combinator and strategic industry investors, including RyderVentures. It follows an earlier, previously undisclosed, pre-seed round raised 1.5 years ago, that was backed by Array Ventures and other angel investors.

Keep ReadingShow less