Earth-shattering Events that Escaped (Almost) Everyone in 2011
In Carol's latest article for the International Licensing Merchandiser's Association (LIMA), Carol calls out a couple of retail developments that barely made a ripple and gives her take on how they will transform retail in 2012 and beyond.
Global Power Launches State-of-the-art Satellite
Grabble, Kosmix, OneRiot…What may sound like adult parlor games are actually a series of acquisitions made by Walmart under its newly-formed @WalmartLabs division. Headed up by the braniacs that came as a part of the bargain when Walmart acquired Kosmix back in April, @WalmartLabs has already more than made up for any of the virtual time that Walmart lost futzing with its physical assets during the much-maligned Project Impact era. A Facebook-mining gifting app and all manner of personalized shopping and couponing capabilities have already been conjured up.
Make no mistake though, the steady stream of incubation and innovation coming out of this lab isn’t just transforming Walmart’s “social web” trajectory, but raising the social, mobile, and big data bar for everyone in the retail orbit.