$120bn tech spend for retailers

TCM news reports retailers are heavily investing in IT and communications technologies worldwide, to the tune of over $120 billion this year, according to Retail WorldView, a new IT Sizing service offered by IHL Consulting Group.

"Retailers individually spend well below other industries, about one third of the amount per revenue dollar compared to financial services and insurance," said Greg Buzek, president of IHL Consulting Group, a global research and advisory firm that serves retailers and retail technology vendors.

"However, what retailers lack in spending percentage of revenue they clearly make up in sheer volume, due to their high revenues. Retail is a huge market for IT that is growing just over 9% a year." According to IHL, North America represents about 45% ($54 billion) of the overall total in technology spend in retail, with EMEA representing another 28% of the market.

Infinity Resources, the parent company of DVD retailer, DVDPlanet, is implementing Alpha Retail's comprehensive retail management and point of sale solution, AlphaERS. The new system provides DVDPlanet with the capability to handle high customer throughput in their brick-and-mortar stores and to quickly fulfil its growing Internet order volume, reports CIOL.

DVDPlanet's inventory management is based on cyclical trends and inventory is cycled dependent on factors unique to the media industry.

AlphaERS manages complex products and replenishment profiles and includes an automatic ordering algorithm that takes into account varying factors associated with each title, such as release date and seasonal demands.

The IBM Retail Store Solutions (RSS) group today outlined its Retail Green Initiative, designed to help its retail clients meet their ecological goals and those of their customers with conservation-oriented technology solutions, reports Assodigitale

The Retail Green Initiative is focused on educating IBM's retail clients on the environmentally responsible options available to them. Among other areas, the initiative will help educate them on the value of sustainable shipment packaging and the use of recycled materials.

"IBM has corporate policies of protecting the environment and conserving energy and natural resources dating back to the early 1970s," said Steven Ladwig, GM of IBM Retail Store Solutions.