Business Intelligence (BI)

Indianapolis – Lids Sports Group is upgrading to a new Oracle Retail POS solution that will simplify administration and the user experience for the more than 50 different POS screen and receipt configurations for the retailer’s partner brands. These include major college and pro teams, as well as the nearly 200 Locker Room-branded stores in Macy’s locations.

Houston – Mattress Firm is partnering with cloud-based customer experience optimization platform InMoment to operate its customer satisfaction program. Mattress Firm will utilize the InMoment Experience Hub to capture customers’ first-hand experiences with the brand.

Seattle - Specialty vertical apparel retailer Tommy Bahama promotes relaxation with its brand image, but is not taking it easy when it comes to loss prevention (LP). Tommy Bahama has selected March Networks' comprehensive retail solution to gain faster, more robust LP capabilities, improve recovery and apprehension rates with higher-quality video evidence, and better safeguard customers and employees at 130 stores worldwide.

Membership-based online retailer Jet is partnering with QVC parent company Liberty Interactive’s marketing and virtual inventory solutions provider CommerceHub to help retailers and brand capitalize on the soon-to-launch Jet e-commerce platform.

Oslo, Norway - Scandinavian multinational supermarket chain Rema 1000 will be leveraging Revionics lifecycle pricing solutions in all product categories across all of its retail stores. Utilizing advanced science and predictive analytics, Rema 1000 will be able to strategically manage pricing and consistently align it with brand image, offer promotions that are compelling and profitable and more accurately forecast and measure key financial metrics.

New York – Cyberattacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated, but that many criminals still rely decades-old techniques such as phishing and hacking.  According to the 2015 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, the bulk of the cyberattacks (70%) use a combination of these techniques and involve a secondary victim, adding complexity to a breach.

Framingham, Mass. – Staples Inc. has collected 450 million ink and toner cartridges for recycling in the U.S. since 2005, averaging more than 60 million cartridges per year for the past four years. Through the cartridge recycling program, Staples has helped recover and recycle 234 million pounds of plastics and metals, diverting roughly the weight of 8,000 full garbage trucks from landfills.

New York -- General Electric Company on Friday announced it will sell or spin off the majority of its $500 billion GE Capital finance business over the next two years as it looks to simplify and concentrate on its industrial roots. The company said it will keep its aircraft leasing operation and smaller lending lines.

GE said it has sold its real-estate assets, which include commercial loans and office buildings, for $26.5 billion, with  Wells Fargo & Co. and private equity firm Blackstone Group buying the bulk of it.

San Jose, Calif. – Despite declining store traffic during March 2015, retailers benefited from increased sales per shopper (SPS), average transaction value (ATV) and conversion rates. According to the March 2015 RetailNext Retail Performance Pulse, SPS grew 5.8% compared to the same month a year earlier, perhaps reflecting pent-up consumer demand after a difficult winter.

In addition, ATV grew 3.5% and conversions increased 0.9%, further suggesting consumers who visited stores were looking to make purchases. Returns stayed flat.

San Diego – Net income at PriceSmart Inc. fell 12% to $24.83 million during the second quarter of fiscal 2015, from $28.28 million in the same period a year earlier. Increased operating expenses helped cut profit even as revenues grew 10% to $750.3 million, from $674.38 million.

PriceSmart also attributed the drop in net income to the devaluation of the Colombian peso.