Will the iPad and Big Data Save Retail?

As I write this post, the holiday shopping season is in full swing. Retail is undergoing a massive transformation as we speak, what with constantly connected customers able to buy from Amazon while in traditional big-box retailers like Wal-Mart and Target. The process, called showrooming, represents a major challenge to brick-and-mortar retailers.

Count JCPenny among them. The storied retailer is trying to do the improbable: come back from the brink of death. New CEO and former Apple bigwig Ron Johnson is putting iPads in stores and trying to turn each "JCP" into a mini-mall of sorts. In other words, each JCP store will contain IZOD, Disney, Liz Claiborne, and other brand-specific stores.

Big Data: A Big Retail Opportunity

Will it work? If history is any guide, the answer is probably not. Department stores are well past their halcyon days of the 1950s. Johnson seems undeterred and appeared on 11/25 on CBS This Morning. For every company that has reversed its fortunes like Apple and IBM, hundreds or thousands more fade into extinction.

Now, I've never been CEO of a retail chain, but if I ever serve as one I'll be sure to rely upon Big Data. As the holiday retail season unfolds, check the out the following statistics that IBM has culled from shoppers so far: