Business Intelligence (BI)

Dublin, Ohio – The Wendy’s Company is the latest retail chain to open a dedicated technology center. Wendy’s has launched 90 Degrees Labs near the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.

South Bend, Ind. - TireRack.com, an online retailer for tires, wheels and performance accessories, has launched its new consumer website. The new site has been developed to make consumer visits faster, easier and more informative.

The new TireRack.com features an all-new look, fast and easy navigation, a fresh user interface and improved product presentation, as well as additional historical information. Site shoppers have access to intelligence culled from more than 150,000 Tire Rack consumer surveys.

Framingham, Mass. – Staples Inc. sees Amazon.com as its biggest competitor, and is not shying away from the competition. During a panel discussion at the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium held May 20 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Staples CIO Tom Conophy explained his company’s intentions in its rivalry with the e-commerce giant.

“We’re going after Amazon in a big way,” declared Conophy. “We were an original disruptor in retail but lost our way. We didn’t see the onslaught of Amazon coming.”

Former Sears and Walgreens finance executive Atul Kavthekar is joining LivingSocial as CFO to help execute the e-commerce company’s ongoing re-invention strategy.

San Francisco - Customers who choose live chat for customer service are satisfied a higher percentage of the time than those who call, email, or use social media channels. According to findings of the quarterly Zendesk Benchmark report, customers using live chat for customer service are satisfied 92% of the time.

The average benchmark for live chat across all geographies and industries is 62 chat conversations a month; first response time of one minute 36 seconds on average; and customer satisfaction of 92%.

Atlanta – Manhattan Associates Inc. is entering a strategic alliance with Verifone that will offer retailers flexible and secure point of sale (POS) solutions as well as streamlined EMV migration. As part of the alliance, Verifone Point, which is built on Verifone’s Secure Commerce Architecture (SCA) will support Manhattan Associates’ POS solution.

Astoria, N.Y. – Bareburger has signed up to use Buxton's Scout platform to identify the best market opportunities for growth in the U.S. and Canada. Buxton's custom analytic solutions will allow Bareburger to quantify growth potential and select the best sites for new locations.

Kirkland’s Inc. says it is still on track to open as many as 40 new stores in 2015 after reporting solid financial results in its latest quarter.

The company’s net income increased 23% to $2.53 million, from $2.05 million a year earlier. Growth in cost of sales and operating expenses lagged the rate of revenue growth, boosting net income. Net sales rose 9% to $118.31 million, from $108.25 million. Same store sales, including e-commerce sales, grew 3%.

Nashville, Tenn. -- Epicor Software Corporation announced that teen apparel retailer Rue 21  has selected the Epicor QuantiSense Retail Business Intelligence suite to support enterprise-wide reporting and analytics across merchandising, store operations and digital retail.

rue21 has relied on the Epicor Retail technology suite for years, most recently to help support the company’s extensive growth into new markets and merchandise categories, including a junior plus size division, rue+, launched in 2014.
 

Expenses related to a corporate restructuring led Etsy Inc. to report a huge loss in the first quarter.