Data & Analytics

FedEx is giving its customers an early holiday gift — while taking a stab at its rival UPS.   The delivery service announced that it will forego additional surcharges on deliveries this holiday season — unless packages require additional handling, are oversized or unauthorized. FedEx made the decision based on the growing volume of large packages moving through the FedEx Ground network during the holidays.   

The Tile Shop is entering the most populous metropolitan market in Texas   The specialty retailer of manufactured and natural stone tiles has opened its first store in the Houston market, in the suburb of Webster. Throughout 2017, The Tile Shop will open several other stores in the greater Houston area, including a second location in mid-August, in Sugar Land. With the two Houston openings, the retailer will have a total of 132 stores in 31 states and the District of Columbia,   

PGA Tour Superstore is betting on Las Vegas.   The retailer has signed a lease to open its first store in the Las Vegas market, a 30,000-sq.-ft. space in downtown Summerlin.   The location, expected to open later this year, is the company's 31st store. It will be staffed with PGA teaching professionals, have five state-of-the-art swing simulators, multiple practice hitting bays, an expansive putting green and a junior putting green along with an in-house club-making and repair facility.

A furniture e-retailer is putting its augmented reality-based app into more shoppers’ hands.   Wayfair’s AR application, WayfairView, has been integrated into its mobile shopping app on the newly released ASUS ZenFone AR. The smartphone, which launched on Thursday, is equipped with Google’s Tango AR platform.  

The ax has fallen at Bed, Bath & Beyond as part of the realignment of its .store management structure.    The retailer said it has initiated in approximately half of its U.S. Bed Bath & Beyond stores and about a dozen of its buybuy Baby stores a limited realignment of its store management organization that will result in the elimination of about 880 department and assistant store manager positions.   

L Brands, The Cato Corp., and The Buckle reported decreases in same-store sales, although one still managed to sound an upbeat note about its second quarter.   

Amazon’s investments in the shoe business are paying off.   While 2017 is not even close to over, it is shaping up to being a strong year for shoes on Amazon. The company has already experienced 18% growth year-over-year during the first two quarters, alone. For 2016, Amazon had a total of 35% year-over-year growth, according to a study by One Click Retail.   

One of the retail tech start-ups from the inaugural class of the Target + Techstars retail accelerator program is expanding.