Retail customers want higher-quality service than ever before, according to findings of a global survey by Oracle.

As grocers across the U.S. and beyond, look for ways to improve efficiency and customer service, Foodland Super Market – Hawaii’s largest locally owned and operated grocery chain –installed Irisys’ thermal people counting and checkout management solutions to gain an edge over competitors.

The signs are all around us – eye-popping “Sale” signs that retailers have been sending out in circulars, ads, online, and in-store, urging consumers to spend and spend big during the holidays.

Reflexis users gathered in Las Vegas at the annual Reflexions User Conference in September. Retailers praised Reflexis’ high-tech workforce management/task execution system, as well as its joint solution with Irisys.

Traditional retail market share is being aggressively pursued – in some cases – by online sales outlets like Amazon. Emerging consumer behaviors like “showrooming” – when customers ponder potential purchases in the store then use their smart phone to buy or head home to purchase online – are causing retailers to re-think their in-store strategies.

Irisys and WirelessWERX, two of the world’s most effective and high-tech gatherers of retail consumer analytics, have formed an alliance to paint an unprecedented picture of shopper traffic.

In any industry, performance analytics help companies judge the success of various efforts to produce results. Without these analytics, company leadership would be forced to rely on qualitative information – and assumptions – as their gauge.

Too many shoppers may seem like a good problem to have, but consumers have made it clear they are fed up with long lines.

To compete with online shopping, managers need accurate data to deploy store-wide improvement – and it all starts at the front door.

With Labor Day weekend approaching, many are making plans to spend the extended weekend hitting the stores for tremendous savings.