Consumer Analytics

San Francisco – U.S. consumers remained active in January 2014 despite the effects of bad winter weather across much of the country. In-store retail analytics provider Euclid measured data on nearly 25 million domestic shopping sessions during January, revealing that shopper traffic and window conversion showed improvement from the prior year for another month in a row as shoppers looked to capitalize on a very promotional January.

New York -- International sales from U.S. online retailers will jump from $11 billion in 2014 to almost $50 billion by 2020, which would make up 16% of the overall U.S. online retail market, according to a new report by OC&C Strategy Consultants.

Digital coupon marketplace RetailMeNot said that its investments are paying off, following a strong performance in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2013.

The company reported net revenues for the quarter of $78.5 million, an increase of 55% compared to $50.8 million the prior-year quarter. Organic net revenues, which exclude net revenues from acquired businesses not owned during both comparative periods, increased 50%.  

Canton, Mass. -- For the eighth consecutive year, Dunkin' Donuts has been ranked number one in customer loyalty in the coffee category by the Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index. Dunkin' Donuts was also ranked number one in customer loyalty in the packaged coffee category for the second consecutive year.

Minneapolis – John Mulligan, executive VP and CFO of Target, said the retailer is deeply sorry for its late 2013 data security breach and is aware that consumer confidence in the company is shaken; his comments came during Feb. 4 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

According to Reuters, Mulligan also said that Target discovered 25 registers infected with malware on Dec. 18, contradicting an earlier statement from the retailer that all malware had been removed by Dec. 15.

By Bob Russo, general manager, PCI Security Standards Council

With the latest attacks at big name retailers, the pressure is on for businesses of all sizes to demonstrate that they’re doing whatever it takes to keep their customers’ confidential information safe and out of the hands of the bad guys. But with headlines changing every day on what actually happened and how, many retailers are unsure of where to begin making changes.

Xoom, a leading digital money transfer provider, has acquired BlueKite, LTD, a cutting edge technology company that develops applications to improve the way people around the world pay their bills, for approximately $15 million in cash and equity.

Guatemala City-based BlueKite, which currently has 30 employees, caught Xoom’s eye because of its technology platform for cross-border bill payments and mobile phone top-ups. This acquisition will allow Xoom to offer adjacent services to its money transfer offerings.

Leading electronics-focused e-retailer Newegg is looking to grow its customer base while keeping existing customers happy with a new customer-benefit program, which offers, in part, complimentary expedited shipping for $49.99 per year.

After taking a look at some of the post-holiday sales figures, it seems like maybe I was a little too pessimistic. While the overall 2013 holiday season’s sales aren’t particularly impressive, they aren’t flat, either — which is an outcome that I had worried about.

Minneapolis – John J. Mulligan, CFO and executive VP of Target, is publicly calling for U.S. businesses to adopt chip-enabled smartcards. In a column published in the Congressional blog of political site The Hill, Mulligan said the attack on Target exposed the sophistication of today’s hackers and that the retailer had already been striving toward adopting chip-enabled smartcards, used in most of the rest of the world, before the holiday 2013 data breach.