Business Intelligence (BI)

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in August 2012 versus August 2013 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains. A home improvement promotional arms race between Home Depot and Lowe’s appears to be taking place: Lowe’s saw year-over-year increases of 100%, 75% and 184.4% across circular page count, ad block per page count and ad block per circular count, respectively. Despite these large gains, Lowe’s still appears to be playing catch-up to Home Depot, which continued to run more ad blocks per page and per circular than Lowe’s.

New York -- Accenture and SAP AG are jointly releasing a new application called the Marketing Performance Solution by Accenture and SAP. Sold by Accenture, the solution enables retail chief marketing officers (CMOs) view and act on centralized key marketing performance data such as sales figures, media spend and social reach in near real-time.

HAMPSTEAD, Md. — Although JoS. A. Bank saw decreases across the board for its second quarter, president and CEO R. Neal Black focused on the momentum the company seems to have picked up during August.

Ottawa, Ontario -- March Networks, a supplier of intelligent IP video solutions, announced that Hideaway Pizza, a dine-in and takeout restaurant chain in Oklahoma, has selected the company’s next-generation retail solution to enhance security, reduce shrink, and optimize operations.

Hideaway Pizza has already started deploying the video surveillance solution. It is using the high-quality video to help improve loss prevention (LP) efforts, as well as increase store performance and profitability.

Redwood City, Calif. -- Online fashion retailer Revolve is leveraging the eCommera Dynamic Action solution to perform daily analysis of a broad set of data points. By analyzing disparate information ranging from search and affiliate data to merchandising and shipping data on a unified basis, Revolve seeks to improve its business decision-making.

By Randy Dunn, Director of Global Sales & Professional Services, Tyco Retail Solutions

During the last decade, RFID has been pronounced dead several times. It’s been mocked and criticized. It’s been shelved and tabled. Yet, there has been no substitute technology offering the same unparalleled benefits.  

Atlanta -- FineLine Technologies Inc. is initializing the rollout of FastTrak Analytics, a web-based solution that provides detailed visibility into variable ticketing supply lead times, with Urban Outfitters among the early adopters of the new analytical reporting tool.

Alpharetta, Ga. – Seeking to boost the capacity and performance of its data center to handle the real-time decisions needed to meet seasonal demand for its 300 stores, HoneyBaked Ham of Georgia is using HP 3PAR Dynamic Optimization Software and HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage. The solutions nondisruptively add and rebalance capacity and system resources to handle changes in business demand on the fly.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc.’s second-quarter net income dropped to $9.1 million, down from $21.1 million a year earlier, on expenses associated with its spinoff from Sears Holdings Corp. The company also announced that its board approved a $25 million buyback.

Revenue increased 2% to $656.9 million from $644.5 million. Same-store sales rose 1.4%, with an 8.2% increase for the chain’s outlet segment.

Jeff Zoss and Scott Simerlein have joined The Grocery Shopping Network, Inc., a provider of digital shopper planning and marketing tools for grocery retailers, consumer packaged goods companies and shoppers.