Business Analytics

Destination XL increased its earnings guidance for fiscal 2015 after the men's big and tall retailer pre-announced high single digit Q4 comps and increased profit.

It was a happy holiday season at Amazon.com where fourth quarter profits more than doubled, sales increased 22% and the company handily surpassed annual sales of $100 billion for the first time.

Amazon.com said its net sales increased 22% to $35.7 billion in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2015, compared with $29.3 billion in fourth quarter 2014. With a $1.2 billion unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates, fourth quarter sales would have increased 26%.

The eBay platform facilitated commerce of nearly $22 billion in the fourth quarter, a 5% increase, and counted roughly 265 million transactions during the holiday season.

The eBay platform facilitated commerce of nearly $22 billion in the fourth quarter, a 5% increase, and counted roughly 265 million transactions during the holiday season.

Walmart is launching a new open source cloud platform that seems aimed at hurting Amazon Web Services (AWS) as much as helping retailers.

The cloud management and application lifecycle management platform, known as OneOps, has been under development at the @WalmartLabs innovation center for two years. Walmart has used OneOps internally to support efforts such as improving its website and deploying online grocery features.

How good is your data?

Seventy-five percent of retailers believe inaccurate data is undermining their ability to provide an excellent customer experience, according to a study by Experian Data Quality.

AutoZone knows that driving experience and customer experience both depend on a well-built frame.

Thus AutoZone is turning to AT&T to provide the chassis for a seamless front- and back-end retail experience. AT&T will provide a suite of mobile and broadband solutions for its U.S. stores, call centers, and back-end offices that deliver voice, Internet and mobility solutions.

E-commerce retailers might think new customers acquired during the holiday season are a gift, but they many not keep on giving.

Ahold USA on Wednesday announced net sales of $26.4 billion for the full year of 2015, an increase of 1.4%.

Ahold USA successfully converted the 25 acquired former A&P stores during the quarter. Identical sales excluding gas were up 1.6%, positively affected by competitor store closures in the New York Metro market. Market share for the fourth quarter and full year increased compared to last year, as the chain added a net 20 stores in 2015 to 788 locations.

Sally Beauty Supply is applying analytics to the literal consumer touchpoint where revenues are made -- the point of sale.

Sally Beauty is teaming up with prescriptive analytics provider Profitect Inc. to analyze sales and other data recorded at its in-store POS terminals. After a two-week implementation, Sally Beauty now has better insight into trends and patterns associated with areas of leaking profit, including shrink, damage, costing errors, waste, process mistakes, and lack of training.