Predictive Analytics

New York -- Although the adoption of social media by sales, marketing and customer service departments continues to grow rapidly, by the end of 2012, only 50% of Fortune 1000 companies will receive a worthwhile return on investment from their social customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives, according to Garner.

ATLANTA — Warm weather and demand for core products helped drive up sales and earnings at The Home Depot during its fiscal first quarter. The company reported sales of $17.8 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2012, a 5.9% increase from the first quarter of fiscal 2011. Comparable-store sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2012 were positive 5.8%, and comp sales for U.S. stores were positive 6.1%.

New York -- Retail financial chiefs are increasingly optimistic about economic prospects over the next 12 months and plan to pivot toward expansion and adding jobs, according to a survey by American Express.

The fifth annual American Express/CFO Research Global Business & Spending Monitor, a survey of 541 senior finance executives from the United States, Europe, Canada, Latin America, Asia and Australia, revealed that investments in expanded operating capacity, research and development, and mergers and acquisitions are once again on the table.

New York -- Research by ACI Worldwide and Aite Group has identified a new group of smartphone fanatics – coined Smartphonatics – are driving demand for mobile banking and other financial services.

Petaluma, Calif. -- Walmart stores equipped with smart irrigation controllers from HydroPoint Data Systems have reduced outdoor irrigation water use an average of 39% per location since the systems were deployed in 2008, the companies announced.

HydroPoint supplied 631 of its WeatherTrak controllers to select Walmart stores. The systems, which are designed to eliminate landscape water waste, harmful run-off and costly hardscape damage, were added during new store construction and as retrofit projects.

Fort Worth, Texas -- Customer analytics firm Buxton announced it will officially launch the latest version of its real estate and analytics platform at the International Council of Shopping Centers RECon show in Las Vegas later this month.

SCOUT 3.0 is a cloud-based, data visualization and analytics tool used by executives in the retail industry to execute real estate and marketing strategies. The platform includes dashboard capabilities for C-level executives to see performance across their entire organization via mobile/tablet technology.

Walmart’s view of the shopper is a whole lot clearer now that the company has resumed sharing point-of-sale data with the likes of Nielsen, SymphonyIRI Group and NPD. No wonder chief merchant Duncan Mac Naughton and consumer insights head Cindy Davis expect good things to happen.

Chicago -- Forty-two percent of Americans are using social media to shop – this equates to nearly 95 million consumers – and that number continues to rise, according to a study by Leo Burnett/Arc Worldwide. When asked how often social media is used to shop today versus a year ago, almost 73% of people confirmed they are using it more.

New York -- The mild winter weather across much of the country helped to offset the negative impact that rising gas prices traditionally have on convenience store visits, according to The NPD Group. NPD’s Convenience Store Monitor reports that in the first calendar quarter of 2012 compared with same quarter a year ago, c-store traffic increased by five percentage points from a year ago quarter and by six percentage points at major oil chain c-stores.

Eastleigh, United Kingdom -- SAP AG announced that British multinational home-improvement retailing company B&Q has gone live with the SAP Forecasting and Replenishment application. The deployment is part of the chain’s "Project Clover" business transformation program.