Predictive Analytics

Mahwah, N.J. -- The websites for the top 500 U.S. retailers are still too slow and continue to get slower – pages have slowed down 14% since summer 2013, and are 16% slower than fall 2012, according to a study by Radware.

New York -- Thirty-One Gifts, one of America’s largest direct-selling companies, has chosen TXT Maple Lake to assist in managing its retail processes. Using TXT’s integrated retail planning solution, TXT will manage the whole spectrum of Thirty-One’s forecasting, merchandise, assortment and inventory management.

New York -- E-commerce and payments fraud remains high on the agenda for consumer-facing organizations, according to a recent Deloitte online poll. Nearly half (47%) of executives and managers reported that fraud protection ranks as a "high priority" for their organization, and a further 8% cited this as their organization's number one priority.

Jon Abolins, senior tax director at Avalara
 

Los Angeles -- Faced with an uncertain economic and political environment and the first government shutdown in nearly two decades, Americans are expected to tighten their holiday budgets this year, beginning with Halloween, according to market research firm IBISWorld. Total spending on the holiday is anticipated to grow only 3% to $7.63 billion in 2013, compared to a strong 17.8% increase in 2012.
 

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.

Pleasanton, Calif. – Safeway Inc. saw its net income plunge 58% from $157 million to $65.8 million during the third quarter of fiscal 2013, amid a software impairment charge, higher theft and lower property gains. Results, however, beat expectations however.

Sales grew 1.1% from $8.52 billion to $8.62 billion, driven by a 1.9% improvement in same-store sales.

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: