Data Management

Coles Supermarkets, one of Australia’s largest supermarket retailers, is deploying a new solution to improve customer checkout experiences and operational efficiency.   The retailer is adding NCR’s RealPOS XR8 as its future POS terminals. Coles also plans to upgrade more than 4,000 POS units in the next financial year.  

Sally Beauty Holdings Inc. reported fiscal third-quarter earnings of $67.9 million, which matched Wall Street expectations.    Revenue for the period was $998.2 million, missing Street forecasts of $1 billion.   In other news, the Sally board named global cyber security expert Erin Nealy Cox as an independent director, effective Aug. 1.   

Expressing a desire to deliver more professional services and back-end support to its wholesale customers, Supervalu announced that it would install Oracle Cloud as its new technology platform.   "The Oracle Cloud provides us with a more robust infrastructure and a comprehensive solution that we believe will help us drive increased efficiencies, speed decision-making, and enhance the overall customer experience,” said executive VP and CIO Randy Burdick.  

Joining the ranks of progressive burger chains that are jumping on the experience bandwagon, Wendy’s has engaged Service Management Group to measure the customer experience in all of its North America and international restaurants.   

Mike McNamara isn’t shy about making changes.   Target Corp.’s chief information officer has launched a hiring spree aimed at turning Target into an engineering powerhouse.   Click here for more. 

Kroger has reached a long-term agreement with IRI that will enable the firm to provide the nation's largest grocery chain with market measurment serices that further enhance its "Customer 1st" strategy.

In one of the largest acquisitions in its history, Oracle Corp. has agreed to buy cloud-software provide NetSuite for $9.3 billion, or $109 per share in an all-cash deal, the companies announced Thursday.   “Oracle and NetSuite cloud applications are complementary, and will coexist in the marketplace forever,” said Mark Hurd, CEO, Oracle. “We intend to invest heavily in both products — engineering and distribution.”  

The largest specialty pet supplies retailer in North America is launching a digital initiative to become more customer-focused — and data-driven.    PetSmart has selected Cognizant’s customer data foundation initiative to utilize master and analytics-driven demographic, behavioral, interactional and transactional data to create custom profiles of pets and "pet parents" who visit PetSmart at its stores, online and through its mobile app.  

The Wendy's Co. is offering an update on a cyberattack it first reported in February 2016, and it contains some decidedly unsurprising details.   Wendy’s believes the breach resulted from third-party service providers' remote access credentials being compromised. This allowed access, and the ability to deploy malware, to some franchisees' point-of-sale systems. To date, Wendy’s said there has been no indication that any Company-operated restaurants were impacted.  

Men’s apparel retailer Destination XL Group Inc. (DXL) is trying to make sure customers are satisfied at the very beginning of the fulfillment process.   DXL is utilizing the EZ-Ship Scan/Pack solution from supply chain management technology provider NGC Software. DXL will use EZ-Ship to reduce chargebacks and packing errors by validating the contents of each carton and shipment sent from its factories.