Business Intelligence (BI)

Redwood City, Calif. -- Actian Corp. said Tuesday that c-store chain Sheetz has selected its Vectorwise data analytics engine to optimize costs, maintain high quality and ensure a positive customer experience.

“Data growth is occurring at record rates,” said Jarrid Magalich, technical services manager at Sheetz. “It’s important for Sheetz to have a plan to manage this growth, maintain and improve current service levels – even with a growing user base – and reduce infrastructure costs wherever possible.”

By Todd Feinman, CEO of Identity Finder

Reston, Va. -- For the first 20 days of November, comScore reported that online spending rose 14% to $9.7 billion. The company forecast that online sales for the full November through December period would increase 15% to a total of $37.6 billion.

Boston -- O’Reilly Auto Parts, one of the largest auto parts retailers in the United States with over 3,700 stores in 39 states, has chosen OneView Commerce’s Enactor Commerce Platform as the foundation software for delivering point-of-sale and other commerce solutions to its stores nationwide.

Walmart continues to gain online momentum, judging from the most recent monthly report from measurement firm comScore Media Metrix.

Walmart consistently ranks in the firm’s Top 50 U.S. Web properties report, and that was the case again in October when Walmart.com was ranked 23rd with 45.2 million unique visitors. By comparison, Target.com, which experienced some difficulties with a major relaunch several months ago, was the only other traditional retailer on the list and ranked 46th with 27 million unique visitors.

New York City -- One in four consumers will start their holiday shopping this week, according to a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers conducted this fall by Oracle. The report, “Oracle Holiday Shopping Snapshot 2011,” finds that Black Friday and Cyber Monday still reign supreme when it comes to getting consumers out to shop.

In other findings:

Atlanta -- Supply chain solution-provider RedPrairie Corp. said Tuesday that The Body Shop has gone live with RedPrairie Execution Management at more than 70 stores in Indonesia.

The cosmetics retailer plans to use the solution to streamline both head office and store processes, as well as promote improved efficiencies for in-store marketing activities including product introductions, planogramming, display setups, customer loyalty, and more.

New York City -- Tiffany & Co. on Monday launched its first annual web-based Corporate Responsibility Report.

The website (tiffany.com/sustainability) details the jeweler’s 2010 sustainability performance, and provides insight into its standards and operations regarding the sourcing of precious materials, as well as includes information on eco-friendly packaging and catalogs.