Data & Analytics

Photo: Doug McMillon, president and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

A cloud computing/e-commerce giant heads up Fast Company’s annual ranking of the 10 most innovative companies in retail.   Amazon not only topped the retail sector category, it also came in number one in the overall World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies listing. (Rounding out the top five: Google, Uber, Apple and Snap.)      

E-commerce platform Shopify wants to help social media content creators expand into the world of online sales.

Shopify is partnering with FameBit, a Santa Monica, California-based platform that allows social media influencers and brands to collaborate for product and service endorsements. The new partnership will allow more than 31,000 of FameBit’s influencers to leverage Shopify’s VIP program and technology to expand into e-commerce.

Move over Big Lots and Ollie’s Bargain Outlet. Kmart is ready to begin making opportunistic purchases of closeouts and liquidated good in keeping with its strategic vision to make shopping fun again.

Kmart said its strategic merchandising group is actively sourcing extreme-value deals by purchasing the inventory of liquidated companies and capitalizing on other opportunistic situations to obtain outstanding products and offer unbeatable value.

The majority owner of Ollie’s Bargain Outlet is looking to reduce its stake in the company following a holiday season sales performance CEO Mark Butler characterized as thrilling.

There are a lot of options in decorating a home, and Los Angeles-based specialty home furnishings retailer Z Gallerie wants to match its offerings to customer tastes.

“We’ve been known for one particular style which our customers love and that we’ve done quite well with,” said Chris Nicklo, VP of customer and chief marketing officer of Z Gallerie, during an interview with Chain Store Age. “But to grow, we knew we would need to appeal to a broader spectrum of customers.”

Retailers looking for evidence that technology has become a pre-eminent influencer on their industry need look no further.

A market brief from consumer financial services company Synchrony Financial, “10 Things to Know – the Top 10 Retail Trends for 2016,” identifies eight technology-driven developments on its list. In addition to the emergence of new retail holidays and increased spending on pets, the eight IT-focused trends are:

It has been roughly four months since the Oct. 1, 2015 liability mandate for U.S. retailers to adopt EMV – how much progress has been made?

Regional grocery chain Weis Markets says its loyalty program and other promotions helped boost traffic in the third quarter as the company reported an increase in same-store sales.

For the period ended Sept. 26, sales increased 4.1% to $711.9 million while same-store sales increased 4%, compared to the third quarter in 2014. The company says it generated $12.8 million in net income, down 5.4%, compared to the same period in 2014. Third quarter earnings per share totaled 48 cents, compared to 50 cents in 2014.

The results are in, and there is no question about what is happening with mobile retail.

According to a new study of 1.4 billion online transactions during fourth quarter 2015 from performance marketing technology provider Criteo, mobile transaction share grew 15% from the same quarter the prior year. Mobile transactions accounted for 30% of all online transactions in the quarter.