Business Intelligence (BI)

ARMONK, N.Y. — In-store sales of women’s clothing are expected to see a 9.2% increase in the third quarter of 2012 versus the year-ago period, according to a just-released IBM analytics-based forecast of U.S. retail sales data. The report predicts a 6.2% increase in sales of children’s clothing and a 5.2% increase in footwear. Men’s clothing, however, is forecast to lag, dropping 6.7%.

Safeway’s recently rolled out Just 4 U loyalty program has chairman and CEO Steve Burd optimistic about the grocer’s prospects for sales growth and market share gains. Read more in this special report.
 

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Revenue at eBay soared 23% to $3.4 billion during the company's second quarter, thanks to strong performances in its Marketplaces and PayPal businesses.

Boise, Idaho -- Albertsons LLC said it has teamed with Recall InfoLink to manage its recall process.

The supermarket chain is launching the Recall InfoLink deployment in its pharmacy operation. Recall InfoLink improves efficiency by providing standardized messages, automated communications, inventory tracking and reports for compliance efforts. 

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. — JCPenney will implement a complete, open and integrated suite of Oracle Retail solutions designed to streamline operations and improve the cross-channel customer experience. The department store retailer will deploy applications in a host of critical areas, including merchandising, supply chain and store operation, to support its transformation initiatives.
 

NEW YORK — Best Buy plans to hire 500 new Geek Squad staffers. The move comes some two weeks after the retailer said it would lay off 600 existing workers in the tech support arm of its business as it looked to focus the group less on basic installation services and more on remote tech consulting. It also comes as Verizon announced it was partnering with Geek Squad to offer services to meet the information technology requirements of small and mid-size businesses across the country.

Redwood Shores, Calif. -- J. C. Penney Co. will implement a complete, open and integrated suite of Oracle Retail solutions designed to streamline operations and improve the cross-channel customer experience. The department store retailer will deploy applications in a host of critical areas, including merchandising, supply chain and store operation, to support its transformation initiatives.
 

Redwood Shores, Calif. -- Improving the cross-channel customer experience and optimizing the supply chain ranked as retailers’ biggest challenges in a new study by Oracle. The report also found that mobile access is key: Forty percent of retailers said that providing store associates with mobile access to customer, product, inventory and other information is critical to their business, along with providing the entire organization with a more consistent and complete view of the customer (40%).

Armonk, N.Y. -- Mobile shopping rose in the second quarter while social media sales fell, providing an indication of where U.S. retailers may invest in order to capture the attention and loyalty of the digital consumer, according to a new report from IBM.

The IBM Retail Online Index, a cloud-based analysis of the online retail sector, reported that retailers experienced 15% growth in sales from mobile devices but saw a 20% decline in sales traced to social media based on a much smaller base over this three-month period.

New York -- Simple demographic targeting does not weight advertising exposures toward households that have greater purchasing value, according to a study by Catalina Marketing released Monday. The study shows that, for a cross-section of major consumer brands, an average of just 15% of television ad exposures reach the households that account for 80% of sales. Meanwhile, brand advertisers deliver 64% of exposures to households that account for just 2% of sales.