Data & Analytics

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.  

Costco Wholesale Corp. turned in a winning performance in July, fueled by strong traffic trends.   The company reported that its net sales in July rose 8.8% to $9.41 billion, compared to $8.65 billion during the similar period last year. Total company same-store sales rose 6.2%, with a 6.0% increase in the U.S. Excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange, total same-store sales rose 5.3%, and 5.5% in the U.S.   

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.   

Weis Markets saw its sales and income increase in its second quarter.      The company’s net income in the quarter totaled $18.5 million, a 21% increase over the year-ago period. Operating income rose 15.2% to $27.7 million, compared with $24.1 million in the same period last year.    Sales rose 20% to $876.6 million. Same-store sales rose 2.7%, after adjustment for the Easter holiday shift.   

Before we completely move on from last month’s Amazon Prime Day, it’s important to understand why retail brands once again braced themselves to lose customers and online sales when they had a whole year to do things differently.