Predictive Analytics

Chelmsford, Mass. -- Kronos on Monday announced the release of its Retail Labor Index, which showed a February increase to 4.2% from 3.85% in January. (This metric is defined as the percentage of job applications that result in a hiring, normalized within a scale of 0 to 100. A level of 3.0% means that for every 100 applications received, three hirings occurred.)

February’s metric is the highest the Index has been since August 2008 when it reached 4.45%, according to Kronos.

SUNBURY, Pa. — Weis Markets on Thursday reported an 8.7% increase in its fiscal-year 2010 net income to $68.3 million for the 52-week period ended Dec. 25, and said its earnings per share for the year increased 21 cents to $2.54 per share, compared with the same period a year ago.

The central Pennsylvania grocer reported a sales increase of 4.1% for the year to $2.6 billion. Comparable-store sales were up 1%.

From a licensed product sales standpoint it doesn’t get much better than having the Pittsburgh Steelers and Greenbay Packers squaring off this Sunday in Super Bowl XLV. Both teams are storied franchises, and although they are from relatively small markets, enjoy a national following, which means plenty of shoppers have been out looking to acquire fresh gear for the big game and will be looking to do so in the weeks following the game.

Cherry Hill, N.J. -- TD Bank announced it is building a net-zero energy bank location, in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, defines a net-zero energy building as a building that produces and exports in a year at least as much renewable power as the total energy it uses.)

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. -- Whirlpool Corporation announced fourth-quarter net earnings of $171 million, or $2.19 per diluted share, compared with $95 million, or $1.24 per diluted share reported during the same period last year.  Fourth-quarter adjusted diluted earnings per share totaled $2.11 compared with $1.67 in the prior year.  Sales of $5 billion increased 4% from the fourth quarter of 2009.

Fourth-quarter operating profit totaled $202 million compared with $199 million in the prior year.  

New York City -- Tesco PLC will install touch-screen energy display boards in 500 locations across the United Kingdom. The screens, which will be located in staff areas, will display which areas of the store are consuming the most energy. The hope is that the associates will respond and adjust energy usage as needed throughout the day.

Berwyn, Pa. -- Planalytics announced that Sonic Corp. has subscribed to its Business Weather Intelligence Platform. Sonic is utilizing Planalytics' Consumer InsightsSM service to analyze, quantify and manage the weather's impact on restaurant traffic and demand for certain products such as fountain drinks, frozen treats and entrees.

"Planalytics will help us better understand the impact of weather in each of our key markets," stated Barbra Castleberry, manager of marketing analysis for Sonic, which has more than 3,500 locations nationwide.

By Eric White, Doug Reynolds and Michael Rozin

Retail is an evolving business that must constantly adapt to changing consumer demands, technologies and economic and demographic trends. Retailers are extremely adept at this, and are perpetually reinventing the way they do business, both in terms of interactions with consumers and also how they streamline operations. This is a requirement for successful retailers because, like it or not, everything impacts retail: technology, weather, politics and even terrorism. 

A lack of disclosure among retailers regarding their online operations makes it challenging to understand what went on online this past holiday season. While comScore reported it was a record year from a sales perspective with November and December sales advancing 12% to $32.6 billion, data from the online measurement firm also showed that most major retailers saw fewer unique visitors to their websites in December 2010 than during the same month the prior year.

New York City - A report released Monday by The Conference Board said that labor demand rose sharply in January after being relatively flat during the last half of 2010. 

According to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine Data Series, online advertised vacancies rose 438,000 in January to 4,273,000.  With the January increase, labor demand has risen 1.44 million since the series low point in April 2009. This increase now offsets approximately 80% of the 1.76 million drop in ad volume during the two-year downturn period from April 2007 through April 2009.