Evan Schuman

Although it said the RFID market is booming and predicts it will continue to soar for years—from less than $2 billion this year to almost $27 billion by 2015—many of the radio-frequency identification assumptions in the U.S. retail space are flawed, according to a new report coming from analysts at IDTechEx in Cambridge, U.K. The […]

When customers step into a cab from the Hello Taxi company in Brookline, Mass., they dont have to worry about fumbling in their pockets for cash, or about swiping their credit card in a moving vehicle, or even about finding their wireless fob to wave in front of a reader. To pay and tip the […]

The 1,200-store Ritz Camera chain wants to let customers drop off film without having to slow down and thinks RFID-enabled contactless payments are picture perfect. With competitors including Wal-Mart moving in, this specialty retailer is stressing expertise and getting people in and out quickly. Vice President of Information Systems Bob OHern (Ritz doesnt have a […]

Large retail chains have always had a healthy dose of a shell game in their heritage, exemplified by the highly marketed new larger bottle of shampoo and the much higher, entirely unmarketed price tag that goes with it. A price increase by any other name still delivers fewer hair washes per dollar. When it comes […]

As the young RFID retail market moves through its experimental stages to eventual full deployment, many retailers “are finding problems and frustrations” because they are trying to emulate cutting-edge market leader Wal-Mart. “There is no cookie-cutter approach to RFID,” said ABI research analyst and report author Sara Shah. “RFID manufacturers—many of them relatively new companies—dont […]

RFID is designed to make supply chains more efficient and sophisticated, but the torrent of new product data created by radio-frequency identification systems is overwhelming without the right business intelligence software to analyze it. However, no business intelligence software companies are offering to do that, according to a new report from Forrester Research. Its conceivable […]

One of the most frustrating parts of clothes shopping is that manufacturer size numbers are inconsistent, making the purchase of an outfit that fits a gamble, at best. A Philadelphia startup is trying to use technology to both get a more precise measure of consumers and to match it against a detailed database on what […]

The biggest news this month in retail has been the battle between $9 billion SAP and $3 billion Oracle to take over retail software vendor Retek, which had barely $174 million in revenue last year and less than $7.7 million of profit. But that’s pretty good compared with the prior year, when it lost a […]

With causes ranging from new, low-priced vendors to needing more lanes open simultaneously, IHL Consulting Group is reporting that prices for typical point-of-sale base units in North America have been plummeting since 2002. At the same time, the number of POS systems sold increased by about 12 percent, said Lee Holman, one of the reports […]

As far as the retail customers of Retek are concerned, the current battle between Oracle and SAP for control of the Minneapolis retail technology firm would be better won by Oracle, according to an analyst report published Wednesday by the Aberdeen Group. “Retek users could breathe a sigh of relief if SAP decides to fold,” […]