Business Intelligence (BI)

Chelmsford, Mass. -- Retail hiring is on the rise, according to the May report of the Kronos Retail Labor Index, a family of metrics and indices that analyze the relationship between the demand and supply sides of the labor market within the U.S. retail sector.

New York City -- Kroger Co. is increasing its efforts to stop organized retail theft rings, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

The supermarket company now has an executive in charge of organized crime investigations. He oversees investigators in each of Kroger’s 17 divisions across the nation.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holdings said its that Sears Grand in Cape Girardeau, Mo., has been selected to participate in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star National Building Competition: Battle of the Buildings to help improve the energy efficiency of commercial buildings and protect the environment.

Sears will battle it out against hundreds of other teams representing buildings across the country to work off the waste through improvements in energy efficiency with help from EPA's Energy Star program.

By Lynn Burkhart Jr., [email protected]

On average, across the retailer set, number of inserts decreased slightly while the number of pages increased on a year-over-year basis for the month of April. When reviewing front page category share of voice, candy experienced a strong increase in April 2011 compared with the same month in the prior year. This is no surprise as Easter fell later in the month in 2011, giving retailers the opportunity to advertise this category for more weeks throughout the month than in 2010. Other categories with notable increases in 2011 versus 2010 include household cleaning, digital TVs and toys.

New York City -- For a fifth consecutive year, Ace Hardware ranks highest in satisfying home improvement retail store customers, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2011 U.S. Home Improvement Retailer Satisfaction Study(SM). The study, now in its fifth year, finds that home improvement store shoppers are more satisfied with store facilities, merchandise and pricing in 2011, compared with 2010.

Kansas City, Mo. -- Einstein Noah Restaurant Group announces partnership with Service Management Group, a leading customer analytics agency focused on loyalty and service improvement, to increase customer loyalty and drive same-store sales.

Through this partnership Service Management will identify new business opportunities through customer analyses that integrate guest experience metrics with transaction data and Einstein restaurant attributes.

New York City -- Clarity and ease of use are sticky points for retailers when it comes to implementing business intelligence, according to a recent survey on BI in retail by Chain Store Age. 

Washington, D.C. -- Applied Predictive Technologies (APT) said that Guitar Center has renewed its license for APT's retail testing software.

APT’s Test & Learn Management Solution is being used to drive dozens of high-impact tests within Guitar Center’s organization. Using Test & Learn, Guitar Center plans to accurately understand the impact of new ideas and tailor them to maximize profits.

Asheville, N.C. — Net sales and net income for Ingles Markets realized a 4% and 38% increase, respectively, during the second quarter ended March 26, the retailer announced Friday.

Ingles reported that second-quarter net sales rose $33.4 million to $870.4 million, while second-quarter net income increased from $5.6 million to $7.7 million.