Data & Analytics

Seattle – Nordstrom reported declining net earnings during the third quarter of fiscal 2013 despite an increase in net sales. Net earnings totaled $137 million, down 7.5% from $146 million in the same quarter a year earlier.

By Jason Hamilton, Snagajob

Soon it will be the peak time of year for retail sales: the make-or-break, pressure cooker fourth quarter is already upon us. But before the cash register is humming and online orders are coming in just as fast as they can be fulfilled, retailers need to hire their seasonal employees.

Red hot Pinterest is offering new functunality to third parties that will allow them to curate content and drive traffic to their sites, and major retailers such as Walmart, Target and Zappos are all over it.

New York -- The hot social-sharing site Pinterest has released its first API for developers. It will help stores and brands display which of their items were most frequently and recently pinned. The first partners for the service include Zappos, Walmart, Disney, and Nestle, reflecting how the site is looking to increase revenue generation with advertising and cross-marketing. (An API, short for application programming interface, is code that allows developers to create apps that interface with a popular web service or other software.)

Lowe’s has elected former WellPoint executive Angela Braly to the company's board of directors. Braly’s term will expire at Lowe's 2014 annual meeting of shareholders. Her addition brings the total of members to 12, of whom 11 are independent.

Sam’s Club was Walmart’s best performing division during the third quarter and holiday plans outlined by president and CEO Rosalind Brewer suggest that could be the case in the fourth quarter as well.

Same store sales at Sam’s increased 1.1% and total sales increased 2.1% to $12.4 billion a while with traffic was up among both business and individual members. Operating profit increased 9.2% to $474 million.

New York -- Transportation logistics services provider XPO Logistics has acquired Optima Service Solutions, a non-asset provider of last-mile logistics services for major retailers and manufacturers in the United States.

The cash purchase price was $26.6 million, excluding any working capital adjustments, with no assumption of debt.

Plymouth, Minn. -- The Tile Shop says it rejects a report stating its historical financial statements may require restatement along with other accounting irregularities. The company denies these allegations and believes that the financial statements are properly stated and its business practices are appropriate.