Data & Analytics

Woonsocket, R.I. – CVS Caremark Inc. beat Wall Street estimates with net income of $1.2 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2014, up 11% from $1.1 billion in year-ago period. CVS cited increased generic drug dispensing rates and favorable Medicaid reimbursement from the state of California as aiding net income results.

As an article that appeared recently right here in Chain Store Age noted, there is something interesting going on with back-to-school shopping this year.

Minneapolis - HighJump Software, a provider of supply chain execution and retail management software, is releasing new capabilities and enhancements to its Retailvantage retail inventory and POS solution. With more than 50 enhancements and new features added to the system, this latest release includes enhanced reporting functionality, further e-commerce integration with FurnitureDealer.net and MicroD, and new capabilities such as the ability to send e-receipts and capture digital customer signatures at the point-of-sale.

San Francisco – Shopper traffic declined 6% in July 2014 compared to the same month in 2013, due to real wage pressure, favorable summer weather, and a shift towards big-ticket item purchases, according to monthly benchmarks from in-store analytics provider Euclid.

Once again a move by our innovative friends at Amazon.com has prompted me to write a Tech Bytes column. Amazon’s latest interesting venture is the launch of an online marketplace for items created by 3D printer. Currently, the online 3D printed products store includes more than 200 items in categories such as jewelry, toys, home décor and fashion accessories. The new store will feature design templates for product individualization and 3D preview capability.

Scottsdale, Ariz. – On dates ranging from October 19, 2013 and April 10, 2014, hackers compromised the security of credit card processing systems at 33 locations of the P.F. Chang’s restaurant chain in Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Nevada and North Carolina, and may have stolen consumer credit card data. The U.S. Secret Service notified P.F. Chang’s of the breach on June 10, 2014 and P.F. Chang’s says it has been processing credit card numbers securely since June 11.

Deerfield, Ill. – Same-store sales at Walgreen Co. rose 5.2% in July. Walgreens had July sales of $6.39 billion, an increase of 6.1% from $6.02 billion for the same month in fiscal 2013.

Total front-end sales increased 1.4% in July compared with the same month in fiscal 2013, while same-store front-end sales increased 1.1%. Same-store customer traffic decreased 2.6% while basket size increased 3.7%.

Boca Raton, Fla. – Office Depot has raised its full-year adjusted operating income forecast as cost savings from the closure of some U.S. stores related to its acquisition of OfficeMax are expected to be higher than previously anticipated. As previously announced, Office Depot plans to close at least 400 stores by the end of 2016, with about 165 closures in 2014.