DATATRAC

Foodservice

• Shake Shack is offering mobile ordering in the Philadelphia market through its mobile app, hoping to lessen customer pickup time.

• Starbucks Corporation announced at its investor conference that mobile order and pay now accounts for 8 percent of all transactions; in addition the company debuted a conversational ordering system called My Starbucks Barista featuring artificial intelligence for the Starbucks mobile app.

• McDonald’s Corp. is rolling out mobile ordering and experimenting with table service in the U.S. as part of plans to make its restaurants more ‘technologically savvy.’

Supermarket & Convenience

• Hy-Vee is testing checkout lane technology created by IndaFlow at a location in Nebraska that uses green, orange and yellow lights to show shoppers which lanes are moving fastest. The system uses sensors to count the number of people and items in each checkout line.

Discount

• 1-800 Flowers is now offering digital gift cards for customers ordering online.

• Walmart opened its second grocery pickup concept store in Thornton, CO; online orders are fulfilled from a nearby full-line Wal-Mart store, with available same-day pickup for orders made prior to 1PM.

• Walmart also launched an online destination dedicated to customers searching for same-day pickup items leading up to Christmas.

• Wayfair launched View in Room, a mobile app feature that allows customers to see how potential items will appear in their homes prior to purchase.

Home Furnishings

• Ashley Furniture is enabling shoppers to use virtual and augmented reality to help visualize how furnishings will fit into particular areas.

• Rent-A-Center’s new ecommerce solution now enables customers to shop online via desktop, laptop, or mobile device.