Data & Analytics

The Home Depot is building physical infrastructure to support online operations. The home improvement giant is officially opening the third of three facilities designed to support its online business, IT transformation and overall interconnected retail strategy.

The new 1.6 million-sq.-ft. facility is located in Troy Township, Ohioand is expected to eventually employ 500 workers. Home Depot is opening the center as online sales continue to grow and currently account for 5% of total revenues.

Shortly after expanding its e-commerce partnership with Facebook, the cloud-based multichannel Shopify platform is teaming up with another online giant. Shopify has been selected as the preferred migration provider for Amazon Webstore, making it easier for online businesses to sell on both Amazon and other channels using Shopify.

Target Corp., which has operated a proprietary innovation lab in San Francisco since 2013, is eyeing a more outward-focused approach to innovation. Target is partnering with startup accelerator Techstars to open a new retail accelerator program in its hometown of Minneapolis.

Home furnishings retailer Havertys reported that Gary Niedermeyer, assistant VP, supply chain, will retire at the end of 2015. He will be succeeded by Abir Thakurta, who will report to Richard D. Gallagher, executive VP, merchandising.

Abir Thakurta joins Havertys with considerable experience in cross-industry supply chain strategy and operational design. He was most recently with GT Nexus as a director in their supply chain consulting practice where he implemented performance improvement programs with retailers worldwide.

Key forecasting metrics have remained essentially flat for five years, but one emerging technology offers retailers the chance for improvement. According to the sixth annual Forecasting Benchmark Study from supply chain software provider Terra Technology, companies using sensing demand systems consistently double overall forecast value-add and reduce error by 37%.

October will be over in a flash, and with it, all eyes will be on the holiday season, which is measured from November 1 through December 31.

The 2015 retail calendar has several distinctions, as we saw Memorial Day fall on the earliest possible date and Labor Day on the latest possible date. This holiday season, there are 28 days between Thanksgiving (not counting the actual day) and Christmas, which is an average amount for the period separating the two holidays.

Target Corp. has operated an innovation lab in San Francisco since 2013, but now the retailer is eyeing a more accelerated and outward-focused approach to innovation.

Vancouver-based specialty online footwear retailer Shoes.com is sprinting toward new levels of fast delivery.

Shoes.com is offering home and office delivery in two hours or less on select items on its Canadian website.

The service costs $19.95 per order and launches Thursday, Sept. 17 in Vancouver and Toronto and surrounding municipalities, with plans to expand to Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal and Ottawa by the end of 2015.

Shoes.com will use a network of local fulfillment centers that have access to the retailer’s technology, operations and marketing.