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GameStop aiming to improve your shopping experience

Retailer announces GameStop Technology Institute with the hope of removing the "complexity" of shopping and improving customer service.

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GameStop wants to improve your shopping experience, and to that end, the company today announced a new business unit that aims to discover and implement technology solutions that "better address the needs of today's empowered consumer."

The GameStop Technology Institute (GTI) is a division of GameStop that will focus on creating affiliations with leading technology corporations as well as academic institutions. Founding partners are IBM and the Center for Retailing Studies at Texas A&M University's Mays Business School.

Together with these organizations, GameStop says it will be able to explore new research and development processes as a means to create and implement "new, innovative business applications" at its retail locations around the world.

Specifically, GameStop will make use of IBM's open cloud development platform, BlueMix, to build new mobile and cloud applications that tap into GameStop's existing networks. This will create a "hybrid cloud environment" that will link a customer's online and in-store experiences as a means to improve your overall shopping experience.

GameStop says its new system will allow it to "remove the complexity" of shopping at GameStop and to "improve the level of service" that the retailer can offer customers. All of this is nebulous at the moment, as GameStop only offered a high-level description of what its plans are.

"Now more than ever, GameStop's internal rate of change must continue to exceed the rate of change occurring within the retail environments in which we compete," GameStop CEO Paul Raines said in a statement. "The launch of GTI represents GameStop's commitment to cultivate innovation within the retail industry, as well as lead the charge in discovering new technology advancements to drive positive customer experiences."

GameStop's Jeff Donaldson will head up GTI, serving as its president.

"As we begin our partnership with IBM and Texas A&M University, GTI's initial focus will be on the digitization of the physical retail space which would allow customers to interact with the brick-and-mortar store environment in ways that mimic interaction with digital platforms," he said.

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