Business Analytics

The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. has a new finance chief to help the company strengthen its balance sheet.

The retailer has named Nancy A. Walsh to the position of executive VP, CFO of the company, effective Nov. 9. Walsh will have responsibility for Accounting, Treasury, Tax, Credit, Investor Relations, Legal and Internal Audit.

Office Depot achieved impressive third quarter same-store sales growth and asserted that its merger with Staples could close as early as this year.

Exceptional customer service continues to drive growth at Publix Supermarkets, which had strong earnings and same-store sales growth in its third quarter.

Publix sales for the third quarter 2015 totaled $7.8 billion, representing a 6.3% increase from last year. Comparable-store sales for the third quarter of 2015 increased 4.2%.

A new e-commerce integration will empower online retailers to sell goods directly through Instagram.

Springbot, an e-commerce marketing platform designed for online stores, has integrated with Instagram to allow the creation of customized shopping pages through a Magento or Shopify merchant’s Instagram profile. Springbot already provides the tracking of revenue attribution for retailers on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.

O’Reilly Automotive plans to accelerate its expansion plans in 2016 following record revenue and profit in the third quarter.

The auto parts retailer now plans to open 210 new stores next year. The company is also on track to open 205 new stores by the end of 2015.

IBM is looking to give retailers an edge in dealing with the effects of the weather, with help from the Internet of Things (IoT).

The technology firm has entered into an agreement to acquire The Weather Company’s B2B, mobile and cloud-based web properties, including WSI, weather.com, Weather Underground and The Weather Company brand.

Fresh on the heels of its announced $17.2 billion acquisition of Rite Aid, Walgreens Boots Alliance reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $26 million and a boost in same store sales.

Net sales climbed almost 50% to $28.5 billion during the quarter, which ended August 31.

Alibaba Holding Group Inc. profits surged as a result of a one-time benefit in the second quarter of fiscal 2016, while mobile sales boosted revenue.

A revaluation of Alibaba’s holding in its Alibaba Health Information Technology Ltd. subsidiary drove year-over-year net income growth of 657% to $3.57 billion, from $480 million.

FedEx says a big boost in online shopping will propel its business between Black Friday and Christmas Eve at least 12.4% above 2014 levels.

FedEx expects the holiday period to include three shipment volume spikes: Cyber Monday and the first two Mondays in December.

The company said it was adding 55,000 employees for the holidays to handle the increased demand.

Mall owner Westfield Corporation has created a new big data and analytics unit and made a key hire to oversee the important function.

Westfield named Raghav Lal as its new chief data and analytics officer to lead a newly established big data and analytics group that will be responsible for conceptualizing, developing and deploying the company’s data strategy. The move is a significant hiring investment to centralize the company’s wealth of data effectively, efficiently and safely for its customers and retailers alike, Westfield said in a statement.