Sales & Marketing

NEW YORK — Retail industry sales are expected to rise, albeit not at the same pace as 2011, according to the National Retail Federation.

Retail industry sales will rise 3.4% to $2.53 trillion, NRF said, compared with a pace of 4.7% in the year-ago period. The expected slowdown in consumer spending, NRF said, will be influenced by a number of factors, including stalled unemployment rate and lack of newly-created jobs. But despite the lower projection, the industry is expected to garner stronger numbers than other industries, NRF said.

By Jill Puleri, [email protected]

The recently concluded holiday season was a happy one for most retailers, thanks in part to a recovering economy, heightened consumer confidence and no debilitating weekend snowstorms.

Oh, and wide acceptance of technology gadgets and experiences may have helped a bit, too.

New York City -- ShopperTrak reported Monday that national retail sales, when compared with the same period last year, rose 3.5% during November and December, while foot traffic decreased 3.1%.

DULUTH, Ga. — NCR announced Monday the introduction of a point-of-sale system that will allow independent retailers to manage transactions, track sales and inventory, process credit cards and market to customers on both touch-screen terminals and Apple mobile devices.

The system is a cloud-based platform that NCR said would give independent retailers a multichannel "sell anywhere" capability.

NEW YORK — Retailers that are looking to access their store sales and foot traffic now can do so anywhere and anytime with a new, free mobile application from ShopperTrak.

ShopperTrak said its new mobile app provides retailers with remote access to the following data &mdashh; key metrics, hourly performance and ShopperTrak Power Hours — which are displayed in an easy-to-navigate graph enhanced by charts. Additionally, the app also provides free weekly foot traffic reports for five major U.S. markets for non-ShopperTrak customers.

By Kiran Kumar MN, [email protected]

New York City -- Kronos Inc. said Monday that Family Dollar is using its suite of workforce management solutions to control labor costs, minimize compliance risk, and improve productivity of more than 55,000 Family Dollar employees across 7,000 stores.

DULUTH, Ga. — The U.S. division of an Amsterdam-based supermarket conglomerate has tapped NCR for a solution to manage the stores' offers and promotions to customers.