Data & Analytics

Whole Foods Market is feeling the impact of increased competition by mainstream supermarkets.   The retailer is slowing down its rate of opening new stores, reported the Austin Business Journal, and no longer has a goal of 1,200-plus stores.    

Target is prepping for another program aimed at start-ups, specifically those focused on health and wellness.   The new program, called “Target Takeoff,” supports health- and wellness-related start-ups through a “mini-accelerator” effort that will help young companies develop and connect with the major retailers in town.  

CVS Health on Thursday reported record fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year 2016 results   Net revenues for the three months ended Dec. 31 increased 11.7% to $46 billion, up from $41.1 billion in the year ago period.  

As malware attacks drop, it is becoming clear that cyber-criminals’ weapons of choice are shifting — and retailers need to be ready.   That’s “2017 SonicWall Annual Threat Report,” which is compiled from data collected throughout 2016 by the SonicWall Global Response Intelligence Defense (GRID) Threat Network. This includes daily feeds from more than 1 million security sensors in nearly 200 countries and territories.  

The mobile payments landscape just lost one competitor — for now.   Google announced that it was ending its “Hands Free” payments pilot as of Wednesday, Feb. 8. The program, which launched in the San Francisco Bay Area in March 2016, enabled users to pay for goods and services without having to take out their phone, VentureBeat said.   

The National Retail Federation’s economic forecast for 2017 is a mostly positive one.   The association is projecting that retail industry sales, which exclude automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants, will grow between 3.7% and 4.2% over 2016, roughly in line with last year’s 3.8% increase.     Online and other non-store/online sales, which are included in the overall number, are expected to increase between 8% and 12%.  

Web searches are often inconsistent due to irrelevant keywords and content, making it more important than ever for brands to use more retail-specific factors to stay relevant.    Details that can improve brands’ visibility in Google searches are shared in the “E-commerce Ranking Factors 2017 — Ten Things eCommerce Sites Need to Know to Rank on Google,” a report from Searchmetrics that analyzed the top 20 desktop search results on Google for over 6,000 industry-specific keywords.   

A less than stellar holiday season for U.S. department stores has led Moody's Investors Service to revise its forecasts downward for the sector's operating income.   In its new report, the rating agency said it now expects 2016 aggregate operating income to decline 18%, rather than 11%, and for sales to also decline in the year ahead.  

Amid efforts to crack down on the sale of counterfeit goods, Alibaba is in a center of another related fight.   The Chinese e-commerce giant said Thursday, Feb. 9, that several intellectual property (IP) agencies were filing false complaints against vendors that continue to sell fake goods on its e-commerce platforms, said Fortune.   

Charlotte Tilbury is taking lipstick sampling to a new level.   The beauty brand is partnering with YouCam Makeup to deliver an interactive platform that allows users to virtually try on the brand’s 12 iconic lipstick shades — anywhere, anytime — right through their mobile device or tablet.