One of the most popular inquiries we have been receiving has been around the use of web analytics and how to justify new investment.  The interest has been driven by three factors – the acquisition of market leader Omniture by Adobe, the emergence of Google Analytics, and a renewed desire to reach consumers who have become increasingly comfortable in making buying decisions on the web.

As with most parts of the country, the weekend newspaper brings with it a voluminous number of weekly specials at the major retail chains. One of the most important read for me, is the Best Buy circular. It forms the basis of a non-scientific, but nonetheless important metric by which I observe the retail technology market - Ben's Best Buy Index.

The prospects for US Retailers to grow revenue by traditional means remains dim.  Even high end shopping malls have record vacancies and are accepting tattoo parlors and non-profits as tenants.  The days of growing through store expansion are on an extended holiday.  As such, retailers are not only looking to improve same store sales, but to increase traffic and sales conversions on their commerce sites.  European retailers aren't nearly as overbuilt as their US counterparts, but are similarly looking to web channels for growth.  And emerging and established Asian retailers with global ambitions see the web as an efficient means to establish their brand in mature markets.

I thought I'd outline some of the takeaways from this year's Shop.org Conference in Las Vegas.  Please read the newsletter piece for a more complete roundup of the show.  I am also attaching a Retail E-Commerce Maturity figure that I'd love to have critiqued.  I welcome comments.

HP announced on August 24th the release of GS1 Canada Product Recall service.

Initially focused on enabling faster, more efficient and less costly product recalls for all supply chain partners in the Canadian food industry - and I truly mean ALL parties from retailers to their suppliers - the initiative compliant with GS1 supply chain standards aims at improving the consumer experience in an economically sustainable fashion.

While GDP expectations continue to deteriorate for all of the major European countries, retail confidence levels are picking up during the second quarter of 2009 - with the exclusion of Germany. Italian retailers and consumers in particular have the most optimist outlook.

Retail volume trends are negative for all countries with the exception of the U.K.. The aggregate sentiment is negative for Germany and France, and positive for the UK and Italy.

The global retail industry is now moving towards the attainment of immersive shopping experience (ISE) abilities, leveraging on advanced CRM software suites based upon a common enterprise information model. Tight connections with merchandising and store execution systems will represent the key technological enablers to achieve strategic business objectives.