Consumer Analytics

Westport, Conn. – Luxury retailer Mitchells Family of Stores has selected ThoughtWorks to create the next generation of customer engagement experiences. ThoughtWorks delivered a customized technology platform that enables digital collaboration and interaction between the sales associates and their customers.  

Franklin, Tenn. – China was the fastest-growing country in Asia during 2013 in terms of new POS terminal installed. According to a new report from IHL Group, “Asia/Pacific POS Terminal Study,” China had 12% year-over-year growth in year-over-year POS terminal installations.

The Asia/Pacific region as a whole experienced 6.5% POS terminal growth. Other findings include that uncertainty about foreign ownership of retailers slowed POS growth in India to 8% and that Vietnam was the newest hot market for new POS devices.

Westlake Village, Calif. -- Paint retailers with well-trained staffers will drive a more positive purchase experience, this according to the J.D. Power 2014 Paint Satisfaction Study.

Mountain View, Calif. -- Coupons.com Inc. announced that Walgreens has rolled out its Retailer iQ targeting and analytics platform in all 8,000 stores, designed to make the promotions and checkout experience digital, mobile and personalized.

Chicago -- Survey results by location-based shopping platform Retale, which aggregates weekly circulars from more than 60 top-line retailers for mobile and digital devices, found that 71% of mobile app users don't like the idea of being tracked into a store via their smartphones.

More than half (56%) say they are not interested in receiving push notifications while shopping.

By Erin Nealy Cox, Stroz Friedberg

Atlanta - Hooters of America LLC has activated Sparkfly to enhance and streamline the capabilities of its new HootClub loyalty program. Through the relationship with Sparkfly, Hooters will gain the ability to redeem digital promotions at any location, regardless of which POS technology is used.

New York - The eight-day run up to Easter 2014 fell shy of the previous year’s comparable period by 9.3% in traffic and 8.9% in sales. According to data from retail analytics provider RetailNext, there was a 1.2- percentage-point improvement in conversion, which helped generate a sales decline that was less than the traffic decline.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Sears is offering a new service called Get Advice to members of its Shop Your Way omni-channel loyalty program. Shop Your Way members can post online requests for advice on shopping decisions and receive answers from both Sears associates and other loyalty members.

In addition to posting answers, members can also vote on answers they think are the most helpful. The service is designed to generate answers within minutes and currently is only open Shop Your Way members shopping at Sears and not Kmart.

Waban, Mass. - The percentage of large organizations that have reached the two highest levels of customer experience maturity has grown from 6% in 2013 to 10% this year. During the same period, the percentage of companies in the lowest level of maturity has dropped from 40% to 31%, according to a new report from Temkin Group, “The State of Customer Experience Management 2014.”

Other findings include: