Business Intelligence (BI)

San Jose, Calif. - Cyber Monday (Dec. 1) saw nearly 30% more online shopping activity than any other shopping day during the 2014 Thanksgiving-to-Cyber Monday holiday timeframe. Data from SLI Systems outlining e-commerce activity across online retailers in the U.S. during the five-day period reveals that Cyber Monday at 10:00 PM EST was the peak online shopping hour.  Nearly 40% of the online shopping was conducted on mobile devices. Other key findings from the study include:  

Momentum continues to build at Kroger where the company elevated expectations for its fourth quarter performance after a better than expected showing in the third quarter.

Reston, Va. - Cyber Monday reached $2.04 billion in desktop online spending, up 17% from a year ago and representing the heaviest online spending day in history and the only day ever to surpass $2 billion in sales. According to data from comScore, the weekend after Thanksgiving also reached a major milestone as it saw its first ever billion-dollar online shopping day on Saturday, while Sunday’s sales just fell short of the $1 billion mark.

By Ken Morris, Boston Retail Partners

What a difference a year makes! We have seen a dramatic increase in the use of social media by merchandisers over the past year, as retailers look for innovative ways to enhance their merchandising decisions to deliver the products consumers want across a seamless shopping experience.

ARLINGTON, Va. - More than half (58%) of shoppers who use mobile devices say they prefer to look up information on their devices while shopping, rather than talk to store employees – especially among men and shoppers aged 25-44 - according to a new by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). Additionally, 62%  of mobile shoppers indicate they perceive the information they gather via their mobile device as more beneficial than the information available in-store via product displays or sales literature.

New York – Cyber Monday lived up to the reputation of the gloomy start of the work week, with Internet traffic attributed to online consumer retail shopping activities decreasing 25 points from the prior day. According to the Verizon Retail Index, year-over-year, Cyber Monday’s results were down six points compared to Cyber Monday in 2013.

Healthy e-commerce growth offset a sales slowdown at Ascena Retail Group’s physical stores and enabled the company to achieve its first quarter financial expectations.

Ascena, operator of stores under the Lane Bryant, Cacique, Maurices, Dressbarn, Catherines, Justice and Brothers brands, said same store sales declined 2% during its first quarter ended Oct. 25 as a 16% comp increase online wasn’t enough to offset a 4% decline at physical stores.

New York - iPhone users were more valuable than Android users ($97 to $91 average market basket) during Thanksgiving weekend but Android tablet users were more valuable than iPad ($105 to $102). According to data from online personalization technology vendor Sailthru, desktop average order value was $106, tablet was $102, and smartphone was $96.  

Columbus, Ohio – DSW Inc. exceeded Wall Street expectations for net income and sales in the third quarter of fiscal 2014. Net income fell a less than expected 10% to $49.55 million from $54.96 million the same quarter a year earlier, with higher operating expenses and lower pretax income contributing to the decline. Sales totaled $670 million compared to $633 million and same-store sales rose 2.6%.