Crowdsourced shopping site sends users on a Hunt

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

The Hunt boasts 3 million users, who work to help other users find specific products online for purchase.

Three modern improvements to the retail training manual

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

From gamification to law-enforcement simulations, technology is improving the ways retailers can get new associates up to speed.

Five things to look for next week at NRF

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

The BIG Show is bigger than ever, so where do you begin? Start with our checklist of five things to look for at retail's biggest gathering.

Video: Behind the scenes of an AT&T holiday store makeover

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

AT&T recently decked the halls of its flagship Michigan Avenue store in Chicago, using a new "Magical Forest" theme.

Best Buy deploys directional audio for latest Call of Duty launch

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

The retailer used a high-tech approach to prevent the bombast of "Advanced Warfare" from permeating the store.

Survey names 'naughty,' 'nice' online retailers when it comes to security

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

Criteria for judgment included password requirements, personal information requested and how much effort they put into helping their customers follow good…

Webinar spells out five big mistakes retailers are making with mobile this year

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

As the holiday shopping season really gets underway, retailers need to make their online shopping experiences as frictionless as possible. This presentation…

Microsoft wins award for Titanfall retail launch

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

The launch included midnight debuts of the game, and featured 10 minutes of original content unique to the stores.

Rebecca Minkoff debuts first interactive store

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

The luxury brand is debuting its new store, featuring "connected walls" and high-tech dressing rooms.

Index says Walgreens, Amazon, Pizza Hut and eBay have the best retail apps

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

November 7, 2014

Research group ARC 360 has published its report "The State of the U.S. Retail Apps Economy," which aims to identify the best- and worst-performing retail apps…

Retail in 2015: The age of uncertainty

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

Results of a new survey show a disconnect between what customers say they want, and what retailers think they want.

How mobile changes consumer behavior

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

When 82 percent of U.S. adults own smartphones, and 91 percent keep them with them at all times, a mobile strategy for retail becomes more important than ever.

Is the Amazon Fire phone the ultimate showrooming machine?

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

Amazon's first smartphone combines visual product recognition with one-click shopping from the online giant's inventory. Should other retailers be scared?

Apple unveils Apple Pay mobile wallet at iPhone launch event

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

September 9, 2014

Apple Pay, which is set to launch in the U.S. in October, uses a secure element in the phone to store card information. It eliminates the need for a mag…

#CONNECTsummit14: Gartner shares mobile best practices statistics

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

In the opening session for the CONNECT Mobile Innovation Summit, Gartner vice president of research Michael McGuire shared his view of how retailers should…

Department of Homeland Security warns retailers of new POS malware

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

August 1, 2014

Backoff uses a variety of methods to compromise the POS, including keylogging and injecting malicious code into explorer.exe. That second one is particularly…

Photos: Inside the new TargetExpress format

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

This past weekend, Target debuted its new store format, TargetExpress, which the company said is its smallest-footprint store to date.

5 Lessons Learned From Recent Retail Data Breaches [infographic]

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

Here are some hard lessons learned for retailers concerning data breaches.

The latest payment breach victim may be Goodwill Industries

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

July 22, 2014

Brian Krebs, the noted security blogger whose recent claim to fame was breaking the news of the Target breach, reports in his blog that banks are reporting a…

Amazon's Fire Phone: Will it succeed?

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

The sprawling online retailer has finally unveiled its smartphone. But is the company too late to a game that is well underway?