Business Analytics

Kroger reported total sales of $25.3 billion, representing an increase of 11.6% for its second quarter. Total sales, excluding fuel, increased 12.4% in the second quarter over the same period last year.

Five Below’s profit more than doubled to $8.3 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2014, from $4.1 million in the same period last year. Its results beat expectations. The chain issued a third-quarter earnings estimate slightly below Wall Street views, while increasing its full-year sales and earnings guidance.

Revenue in the quarter increased 30% to $152.5 million. Same-store sales increased by 3.2%.

California's drought disrupted 99 Cents Only Stores’ ability to continually stock “right-priced” produce, which affected the company’s overall financial results for the second quarter. But despite the challenges, same-store sales in the quarter were positive.

The company's net sales for the quarter increased $25.1 million to $458.2 million, compared to $433.1 million in the prior-year quarter. Same-store sales increased 0.1%, calculated on a comparable 13-week period of the prior year.

Although Lululemon CEO Laurent Potdevin recognizes that there is still much to be done, he praised the company’s “meaningful” progress on building a scalable foundation for its next phase of global growth.

Net revenue for the quarter increased 13% to $390.7 million from $344.5 million in the second quarter last year.

Morrisville, N.C. - Overall, August 2014 was a mixed bag for various online retailers with Amazon, Google Shopping/CSE, Search and other third-party marketplaces continuing to grow and EBay feeling the impact of its new EBay Defect Rate (EDR), which has made it tougher to obtain top-ranked seller ratings and significantly reduced inventory for sellers of used/refurbished items. According to monthly analysis from e-commerce solutions provider ChannelAdvisor, major online retailers reported the following same-store sales results in August.

New York – Almost all retailers consider Big Data to be important, according to a new survey from Accenture Analytics. When asked how important is Big Data to their organization, 94% of retail executives answered “important,” 58% responded “extremely important,” and 36% responded “important.”

Nashville, Tenn. – Cognitive computing provider Digital Reasoning has released Synthesys 3.9, the latest release of its machine learning platform for analyzing human language data at scale. Synthesys 3.9 provides capabilities to detect key risk and performance indicators in human communication and automatically connect and aggregate information based on those indicators.

Houston -- Francesca's Holdings Corp. on Tuesday reported second quarter net income of $10.3 million, down from $14.6 million in the year-earlier period. Earnings and sales both fell short of estimates. The retailer also lowered its earnings outlook for the year.

Net sales rose 9% to $97.3 million, driven largely by new openings. Total apparel sales increased 14%, accessories sales increased 14%, and gift sales increased 25%. The gains were offset by a 12% decrease in jewelry sales,

Same-store sales fell 7%.

Mahwah, N.J. - Ernest LaPorte has joined Ascena Retail Group Inc. as senior VP/chief accounting officer. LaPorte will oversee Ascena’s accounting, financial reporting and accounting shared service functions.

For the last seven years, LaPorte held the position of senior VP/controller at Saks Inc. Prior to Saks, LaPorte worked at the Movado Group Inc. as VP of finance and principal accounting officer and Barnes & Noble, where he spent six years in finance.

Barnes and Noble continues to narrow its losses. In the first quarter of fiscal 2015, the company’s comparable sales were bolstered by improving physical book industry trends, merchandising initiatives and store promotions.