Predictive Analytics

Trends in Target’s credit business continue to improve and delinquency rates in the portfolio are now at their lowest level in several years. Accounts 60 days past due in December represented 4.2% of the receivables portfolio, compared with 4.6% in November, and hit their lowest level since April 2008. The same was true of the 90-day delinquency rate where accounts 90 days past due in December accounted for 3.1% of the portfolio, compared with 3.3% in November, and hit their lowest level since July 2008.

New York City -- SAS on Monday announced a 5-year agreement with Winn-Dixie Stores around the company’s marketing and merchandising analytics offering.

“We chose SAS because of their strong commitment to retail and analytical excellence,” stated Maura Hart, Winn-Dixie’s CIO. “This partnership will enhance our customers’ shopping experience with the implementation of SAS’ technology and resources to provide improvements in pricing, assortment and category management.”

Costco said its worldwide sales increased 11% to $9.19 billion for the five-week period ended Jan. 2 and total company same-store sales increased 6%. Same-store sales at Costco’s U.S. clubs increased 4%, or 3% if the effect of higher year-over-year fuel prices is excluded. Internationally, same-store sales increased 12%, but that figure was aided by currency exchange rates. Excluding the impact of exchange rates, international same-store sales increased 8%.

Transaction marketing gained widespread acceptance among retailers in 2010, as they began to recognize marketing in the electronic banking channel as a far more cost effective way to encourage repeat business, increase the average transaction sizes and drive same-store sales. It enabled retailers to overcome the marketing waste associated with other channels -- like Groupon -- and consistently provided compelling and measurable return on their marketing investment.

Not that anyone ever forgets Walmart is a really big company, but every now and then a fresh reminder surfaces. That was the case this week with an announcement by Datacert, Inc., that Walmart had selected its Passport technology platform to help manage domestic legal processes and systems. Big companies that make a lot of money tend to get sued a lot, and in Walmart’s case the situation is magnified by the fact that it has more than two million employees interacting each week with 200 million customers in its 8,000 stores.

RESTON, Va. - Comscore reported that retail e-commerce spending for the entire November to December 2010 holiday season reached $32.6 billion, marking a 12% increase versus last year and an all-time record for the season.

Fort Worth, Texas -- Buxton, a leading customer analytics firm, has named Charles Wetzel as its new CEO.

Wetzel, 35, started at Buxton in 2004 as COO. He assumed the role of president in 2008.

“Charles is the ideal candidate to assume the CEO post at Buxton,” said Tom Buxton, founder and chairman of Buxton. “He holds the right combination of analytical expertise and management needed to lead this company into the future.”

While holiday sales overall were solid during the season just ended, a real bright spot was online where sales advanced 13% to a record level of nearly $31 billion, according to the online measurement firm comScore. For the 56-day period from Nov. 1 through Dec. 26, comScore data showed consumers turned to the Internet in record numbers, especially on such key days as Thanksgiving, Cyber Monday and the final day of free shipping on Dec.17 when online volumes surged 61% to $942 million.

With Target set to release December sales results this Thursday, the issue isn’t whether the company’s results will be in line with expectations but the degree by which they are likely to exceed same-store sales guidance in the low- to mid-single digit range.

Mobile commerce is expected to be among the dominant topics at the National Retail Federation’s Annual Convention and EXPO in New York City, with break-out sessions and a super-session devoted to the fast-growing channel. Two recent studies offer insights into the channel. Here are some highlights: