Business Intelligence (BI)

Scottsdale, Ariz. – Big Data pricing solution vendor Clear Demand is partnering with competitive price intelligence provider 360pi. Under this joint initiative, 360pi’s real-time price intelligence is fed into Clear Demand’s pricing platform, which in turn alerts retailers to competitive price changes, including compliance with product-line and pricing rules, and helps manage competitive price strategy.

Matthews, N.C. – Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn, who recently engaged in a high-profile effort to force EBay to separate its PayPal business, is now demanding that Family Dollar sell itself. Icahn, who recently disclosed he has a 9.4% stake in the discount retailer, sent an open letter to Family Dollar chairman Howard Levine saying that it is imperative the company be put up for sale immediately.

London – Three-quarters of online shoppers have shopped online for groceries and 40% of these do so on a regular basis, but only one-third of grocery shoppers rate their experience as “easy.” And only one-in-five (19%) of those surveyed by EDigitalResearch are delighted with their online grocery experience.

Omnichannel pricing solution provider Clear Demand and pricing intelligence leader 360pi have formed a partnership to put powerful new capabilities into the hands of retailers.

New York - CloudTags, an omnichannel marketing technology company, is partnering with Brickstream, an in-store analytics vendor. The partnership will enable the analysis of physical store intent and behavioral data through a comprehensive in-store data platform.

Skechers USA has filed a lawsuit against Reebok International for selling footwear that, according to Skechers, infringes on its Go Walk product line.

The suit, filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, seeks compensatory and punitive damages as well as injunctive relief for infringing on Skechers’ patent and trade dress rights and for unfair competition. The suit states that Reebok is selling the infringing products under the name Reebok Walk Ahead RS.

New York -- Google announced that it has acquired video advertising provider mDialog.

In a post on Google+, the web giant said it will work with the mDialog team to incorporate their technology and expertise into its DoubleClick online advertising platform product suite.
 

Cincinnati – Kroger Co. reported a 4% increase in its first-quarter profit, helped by the addition of Harris-Teeter, which the grocery giant acquired in January 2014. Kroger raised its net earnings and same-store sales forecast for the fiscal year.
   
The company earned $501 million in the quarter, up from $481 million in the year-ago period. The payment of $56 million to withdraw from two pension funds negatively impacted Kroger’s net earnings.