Data & Analytics

Tiffany & Co. has appointed Ralph Nicoletti as its next EVP and CFO, effective April 2. He steps into the CFO role following current chief operating officer and CFO James N. Fernandez’s plans to retire in July.

Nicoletti will be based in New York and responsible for the company’s worldwide financial functions and information technology. He will report to chairman and CEO Michael J. Kowalski

Purchase, N.Y. -- As part of the 2013 launch of a commitment to responsible retailing, the Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. LLC is making efforts that reduce waste in stores and improve efficiencies in energy uses in both new and existing stores.

By 2020, the company has set a goal of getting to "zero waste," diverting 90% of waste going to landfills and incinerations through the expansion of its organic recycling program and new opportunities for recycling cardboard, plastic, paper, and single stream recycling.

Waban, Mass. -- Sam's Club and Amazon.com deliver the best customer experience in the retail industry, according to the 2014 Temkin Experience Ratings, an annual ranking of companies based on a study of 10,000 U.S. consumers. Sam's Club and Amazon.com continue their reign as the highest-rated retailers for the third straight year, each earning an "excellent" rating.

New York -- The Deloitte Consumer Spending Index remained flat in February 2014, showing only a marginal change. The Index tracks consumer cash flow as an indicator of future consumer spending.

The Index, which comprises four components, tax burden, initial unemployment claims, real wages and real home prices, ticked down slightly to 3.9 from 4.0 last month. Highlights of the Index include:

Tax Burden: The tax rate stayed at 11.8%, consistent with recent months.

The growth of e-commerce contributed to an 8% increase in average daily FedEx Ground volume, but severe winter weather exacted a heavy toll on the company’s profitability.

By Dave Richards, Accenture

We shop almost every day – picking something up at the drug store or buying lunch, clothes shopping or getting groceries, looking for a gift or checking out a promotion – and we are doing this on the way to work, at work, at night while watching TV, online, at a store and increasingly across mobile devices. There is one thing that unites consumers in all of these instances: we expect the experience to be unified, personalized, constant, connected and, above all, seamless.
 

Pacific Sunwear overcame weak mall traffic and bad weather to log its eighth consecutive quarter of same-store sales growth with a 2% comp increase in the fourth quarter.

The teen and young adult retailer said sales from continuing operations during the quarter ended Feb. 1 totaled $218.6 million compared to sales of $222.8 million during the fourth quarter the prior year, a period which included the benefit of an additional week which added sales of $9 million. PacSun ended its most recent fiscal year with 618 stores compared to 644 in the year earlier period.

The worlds of technology and fashion continue to merge with the most recent example involving the Fossil Group’s involvement with Google for a new line called Android Wear.

Fossil Group, the $3.3 billion global fashion accessories company, said it was working with Google to support the extension of Android technology in wearable products branded as Android Wear. As part of the launch, Google also released a developer preview of Android Wear so that developers are better able to build rich wearable experiences for their existing Android apps.