Retail IT News For VARs — May 16, 2014

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

In the news this week, Paypal has now enabled fast mobile checkout via fingerprint recognition using smartphones. A pharmacy chain one of the latest to test iBeacon technology, and Google has unveiled a new digital assistance service that notifies consumers when they are near a store that carries products for which they had been searching online.

PayPal Enables Mobile Checkout Via Fingerprint Recognition

Biometrics has arrived. An article for Internet Retailer reports consumers with a Samsung S5 smartphone and PayPal account can check out with just a swipe of her finger on any m-commerce site that accepts PayPal. And a handful of top retailers soon will release biometric checkout in their apps.

Walgreens-Owned Duane Reade Introduces iBeacon Technology In Stores

Integrated Solutions for Retailers reported that as of May 1, New York City’s largest drug store chain Duane Reade has introduced iBeacon technology in a test phase to 10 of its locations before extending it to other Duane Reade locations. The iBeacon technology will alert customers who have downloaded the Duane Reade app to their iPhones that they are approaching an iBeacon-configured location and will deliver shopping list reminders, send customers coupons, product suggestions and reviews based on in-store location and past shopping histories.

New Google Digital Assistance Service Helps Users Locate Stores That Carry Products They Want

Google announced that it’s going to send users digital assistant service notifications when they’re close to a store that should carry a product that they recently searched for. This is a move to use its location-aware digital assistant service as a means of driving users into physical retail stores.

Retail IT Talking Points

A new study demonstrates what analysts have long suggested: clicks convert to brick sales, according to Integrated Solutions for Retailers. Current retail sales data shows that the percentage of retail sales placed through e-commerce platforms hovers at around 6 percent for U.S. retailers; however, a new study, “US Retail Ecommerce: 2014 Trends and Forecast,” shows that e-commerce influences a much larger percentage of sales. The 6 percent of actual e-commerce sales does not reflect how consumers use e-commerce platforms when making shopping decisions. As more consumers shop cross-channels, the lines between e-commerce and in-store commerce are quickly becoming blurred.

For more news and insights, visit BSMinfo’s Retail IT Tech Center.