Predictive Analytics

Digital media company Specific Media and Nielsen have joined forces to offer a new platform called Retail Connect designed to address what the firms regard as a gap between offline and online advertising.

According to Specific Media, the Retail Connect platform will allow for more effective advertising for brands as well as consumers because it leverages Nielsen’s Buyer Insights aggregate data about in-store consumption habits and online behaviors to inform an optimized and efficient approach to online advertising.

New York -- U.S. chain-store sales posted a gain of 4.0% for the fiscal month of September on a year-over-year basis according to a tally compiled by the International Council of Shopping Centers. Excluding gasoline sales, the September tally would actually be +5.1%.

San Francisco - Walk-by conversion and in-store engagements among U.S., consumers slipped in September compared to August as consumers became more cautious and less compelled to shop after back-to-school spending. In-store analytics technology vendor Euclid’s U.S. Retail Benchmarks for September 2013, based on 20 million domestic shopping sessions, suggest September same-store and total store sales may be sluggish for many retailers.

Specific findings include:

New York - The Deloitte Consumer Spending Index moved down again in September, showing the second month of small declines. The Index tracks consumer cash flow as an indicator of future consumer spending.

Dallas – Increased one-to-one personalization and a growing global economy are two key “megatrends” that will help steer the future direction of retail, according to Dr. Chakib Bhoudry, executive VP of retail industry solutions for SAP. Bhoudry discussed these and other trends in his Oct. 8 keynote address, “Megatrends and the Future of Retailing,” at the SAP Retail Forum 2013 in Dallas.

Durham, N.C. -- Marketers are constantly combating shopping cart abandonment, and with good reason: Abandonment rates range from 70%-80%. The good news is that much can be done to reduce abandonment, recapture sales from abandoned shopping carts, and provide a better shopping experience for consumers, according to a new report by Bronto Software and Magento

By Doug Brown

With the use of smartphones and other mobile devices continuing to grow, more and more merchants are looking for a way to capitalize on a communication device that many people never put down. And, as the leaders in this area are finding, mobile loyalty and payment incentive programs possess many benefits for chain stores.

Tie mobile and incentives together

Merchant Warehouse, a leading provider of payment technologies and merchant account services, has entered into a partnership with Revel Systems, a point-of-sale software developer. 

According to both companies, Revel Systems' integration with Merchant Warehouse's Genius Customer Engagement Platform enables merchants to gain greater business intelligence capabilities to more effectively streamline, analyze and grow their businesses.

Armonk, N.Y. -- IBM announced the acquisition of Xtify Inc., a leading provider of cloud-based mobile messaging tools that help organizations improve mobile sales, drive in-store traffic and engage customers with personalized offers. Financial terms are not being disclosed.

The acquisition will help extend IBM’s mobile capabilities to digital marketers across all industries ranging from retail to citizen engagement in the public sector through cloud-based services.

Doubling your store count is the type of growth most retailers seek. So 38-unit, Louisiana-based grocery retailer Rouses didn’t complain back in 2007 when it upped its store count in Louisiana and Mississippi from 15 to 32 by purchasing the regional Sav-A-Center chain from A&P. However, for a family-owned business that had previously grown organically, this sudden spurt in its number and distribution of stores created a few issues.