Business Intelligence (BI)

Target Corp. has expanded its commitment to renewable energy.    The discounter kicked off its first wind power partnership, buying a portion of the energy produced by a Starwood Energy Group wind farm to offset 100% of the energy used at 60 Target stores throughout Texas.   

eBay beat sales expectations in its second quarter, during which it also crossed an important threshold.

The online marketplace reported that it crossed the one billion live listings mark in the quarter, reflecting its efforts to expand the breadth of selection offered to consumers and the progress it has made on enhancing its shopping platform.

eBay reported net income of $435 million, or 38 cents a share, up from $83 million.

The customer journey for The Yankee Candle Company Inc. has many potential steps, and the company is ensuring they are all connected and help bring shoppers closer to making a purchase.  

Adhering to its company motto of “Quality Shopping Malls in Compelling Markets,” PREIT reached an agreement to sell the Washington Crown Center in Washington, Pennsylvania. At the same time, it announced it had put the Beaver Valley Mall up for sale.   In a press release, PREIT noted it had embarked on a portfolio optimization program focusing not just on new properties, but on new types of tenants that could fuel growth.  

Retailers are focused on getting leaner.   That’s according to a new study by Accenture, in which 88% of retailers said they were focused on cost reduction to free up funds necessary to reinvest in growth initiatives.  As for where they are those cost savings, the top three areas were expanding into new geographies (cited by 60%), digital technologies (54%) and enhancing customer experiences (52%).  

Ace Hardware Corp. is helping independent members of its retail cooperative manage increasingly complex labor regulations.   The hardware chain is leveraging the cloud-based Kronos Workforce Central suite of workforce management solutions. In addition to better management of rising labor law compliance requirements, Ace expects the deployment to also enable improvement of store productivity and increase of associate engagement.  

The Pokemon Go app has exploded in popularity since its July 5 release in the U.S. 

Walmart’s Lifelong Learning Program is getting a boost from a new partnership with educational technology and services company Cengage Learning.  

Stater Bros. Markets is decreasing electricity output this summer.   The San Bernadino, California-based regional supermarket chain is voluntarily reducing lighting energy use by 50% in all 168 Stater Bros. locations during the summer months. This reduction will decrease electricity use by 425,000 kWh per month, which is the equivalent of powering 470 homes per month. It also reduces the possibility of rotating outages during the summer.