Technology

The most clicked through article of the week deals with a topic that many retailers have either dealt with recently or will be forced to deal with in the near future: upgrading their e-commerce platform. As the e-commerce industry continues to evolve and consumers increasingly make purchases online, having an e-commerce platform that can handle this growing traffic as well as offer all the latest bells and whistles has become a requirement for retailers selling their merchandise online.

Starting October 14, Target will feature 20 toys at the front of its aisles promoted with signs featuring QR codes. Shoppers with smartphones can scan the codes to buy any of those items and have them shipped free. "Providing this convenience for mom is about ensuring that she's able to shop the way that she wants to," said Stephanie Lucy, Target's vice president of toys and the mother of two who knows about not wanting to ruin the surprise of the holidays.

Barnes & Noble said on Tuesday it would introduce a new video store for its Nook products this fall, the latest expansion of the bookseller's digital content. The service will allow customers to stream and download movies and television shows for a fee onto TV's and mobile devices, while storing the content in the Nook cloud. The video catalog includes HBO shows, like "Game of Thrones" and "True Blood," and movies including "The Artist" and "Toy Story 3."

It's tough being a rich and famous fashion mogul. You've seen the best of the world. You have exclusive access to private events. You have expensive tastes — as you should. And then all of a sudden, Google hands you a fancy new toy. That has been the case for famed designer Diane Von Furstenburg, who has been playing with Google Glass, the tech company's wearable augmented reality glasses hardware.

Amazon.com could be taking its rivalry with Apple out of households — and onto the streets. According to a report yesterday, the online retailer has been developing its own-brand smartphone and, although it's doubtful that the launch is imminent, we could be hearing about it at the retailer's press conference in Los Angeles.

Wal-Mart is testing a program that invites consumers to send the retailer a photo of a grocery receipt from one of its competitors. Within a couple of days, Wal-Mart responds with a calculation of how much the consumer would have saved by shopping at one of its stores.

Nordstrom is working on its image. Like just about every other retailer out there, the 111-year-old department store is trying to upgrade with a younger, digital-friendly twist. In the past couple years, the brand has done a bunch of things to try and make that happen: It's courted Jason Wu (straight off the smash success of his Target collab) for a younger, contemporary line and it will be launching Topshop boutiques within its stores and on its website this fall. But probably its biggest push in the young-hip-online direction has been the acquisition of flash-sale site HauteLook.

That couch catching your eye in the 2013 edition of IKEA's new catalog may not be a couch at all. It is likely the entire living room was created by a graphic artist. In fact, much of the furniture and settings in the 324-page catalog are simply a collection of pixels and polygons arranged on a computer.

Following tests that showed mobile point of sale (POS) successfully sped up the checkout process in its Rack stores, Nordstrom will roll out approximately 1,500 of the devices to its 110 Rack units by the end of this year's third quarter. This deployment is in addition to the mobile POS technology already in use in Nordstrom's 117 full-line stores. "We are constantly adding to the functionality of our mobile point-of-sale devices and their use in our stores is increasing," said Nordstrom president Blake Nordstrom during a recent conference call discussing second-quarter financial results. 

Cloud adoption is driven by the need of businesses to get the greatest value from technology budgets through better adoption of business applications, improved collaboration and increased agility. This is particularly relevant in retail, where marketing teams have to manage an increasing number of customer touchpoints — e.g., e-commerce sites, web-enabled smartphones, social networks, etc.