News

• Retailers didn't do Windows 8 any favours

  Retailers share part of the blame for poor Windows 8 sales and the ensuing decline of PC shipments, according to analysts.

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  Australian startup snapshot: Roamz / Local Measure

  Sydney-based Roamz switched focus from consumer to business after discovering that its location-based platform for monitoring social media appealed to retailers around the world.

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  Google App Engine powers Traderoo website

  In a bid to lift classified ad revenue, News Ltd used Google App Engine to develop the Traderoo classifieds website.

• Retail chain sees value in Google Plus

  Retail chain Dick Smith will use Google Hangouts to share best practices among its stores and bring employees closer together, according to the retailer’s IT director, Linda Venables.

• Three Australian retailers sign with Visa CyberSource

  Visa subsidiary CyberSource has been selected by the Flight Centre, Cotton On and Kathmandu to secure online payments when customers are booking flights or buying apparel.

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  Melbourne IT expects boom in defensive registrations when top-level domains arrive

  Melbourne IT said it expects a boost to business from defensive domain registering and other activity associated with new global top-level domains expected to go live later this year.

• Etsy gets crafty with big data

  Handmade marketplace Etsy has grown to 800,000 sellers and 40+ million monthly visitors. All that activity generates enormous quantities of data, which Etsy uses to drive site improvements.

• Japanese ad platform mixes image recognition, GPS, time data

  One of Japan's largest ad agencies will soon launch a new ad platform that mixes image recognition software with GPS and time data from smartphones to link consumers with product information.

• JB Hi-Fi profit rises as store network expands

  Electronics and entertainment retailer JB Hi-Fi (ASX:JBH) has reported a net profit after tax (NPAT) of $82.1 million for the six months ended 31 December 2012, up 3 per cent from the previous period.

• Restaurant operator automates but doesn't cut staff

  An airport restaurant operator invests heavily in automation -- but doesn't use that as a rationale for cutting staff.

• Walmart, jobs and the rise of self-service checkout tech

  Walmart this year plans to install 10,000 self-service kiosks in hundreds of stores. But even as it moves ahead, other retailers are bailing on the technology.

• Online retail sales hit $12.6b

  Online retail sales hit $12.6 billion in the 12 months to November 2012, according to the NAB Online Retail Sales Index.

• Microsoft unveils future retail store plans

  Microsoft on Wednesday revealed six locations for new retail stores it will open in early 2013, including four transformed from its holiday specialty stores, dubbed "pop-ups," that it established in October.

• Why one retailer is migrating away encryption to protect customer data

  For retailers, protecting customer payment-card information is critical, and encryption is the typically the way to do that today. But Crutchfield Corp, which sells electronics and other goods online and through catalogs, has decided to migrate away from encryption in favor of an alternative security technology known as tokenization in order to shield sensitive customer data.

• Australians would buy local if it wasn't cheaper overseas: MasterCard

  Unless they have to pay more, most Australians prefer to buy from Australian websites when shopping online for the holidays, according to a MasterCard study released today.