Business Analytics

Accenture, a global professional services company, has entered into an agreement to acquire Kurt Salmon, a global strategy consulting firm focused on the retail industry.   The acquisition will expand Accenture Strategy’s capabilities in delivering strategy consulting services to retailers and private equity firms in a world disrupted by digital.
   

This year, Hanukkah and Christmas Eve both fall on the last Saturday before Christmas, dubbed Super Saturday, which is likely to have a dramatic impact on traffic on that day.   

Walmart hourly employees are being rewarded for helping to improve customers’ satisfaction with the discounter’s stores.   The world's largest retailer said Wednesday it awarded more than $200 million in second quarter cash bonuses to more than 900,000 hourly workers across the United States.  

North American real estate owners and developers ratcheted up their green profiles markedly this year, though they still lag global trendsetters, according to the latest results of an annual sustainability study.   In GRESB’s annual environmental assessment of real estate developers and investment trusts, North American companies averaged a score of 59 out of a possible hundred, a five-point rise from last year and just shy of the global average of 60.  

Retailers can learn how to develop a strategic process for reducing one of their major facility operating expenses — energy — at Chain Store Age’s upcoming webinar, Understanding and Controlling Energy Costs in Retail.   

Kroger Co. posted second quarter earnings that topped expectations but the chain cut its guidance for the year citing ongoing price deflation.

"If you look at the price of milk, eggs and commodities like that, they're historically low. Meat continues to be deflationary and produce is on a deflationary trend," Kroger CFO Michael Schlotman said on CNBC on Friday.

Digital payment volume may be growing industry-wide, but there is still plenty of currency filtering through retail stores.  

Cabela’s is known for transforming mere customers into raving fans. To elevate these efforts, a new optimization solution will help associates further improve in-store customer engagement efforts, from both tactical and strategic levels.  

While some specialty chains struggle to meet earnings predictions, Dollarama reported better-than-expected second quarter results. The Montreal-based discount chain’s net income was $106.4 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2017, ended July 31, 2016 — up 11.4% from $95.5 million for the same period last year.  

Following a revenue miss in the second quarter, sales continue to slide at The Buckle.    For August, same-store sales fell 14.8%, a decrease exceeding the company’s 10.9% same-store loss in July, and a 10.8% drop in the second quarter.    Net sales for August also dipped 14.0% to $87.2 million for the four-week period ended August 27, 2016, compared to $101.4 million for the same fiscal month last year, ended August 29, 2015.