Data & Analytics

Wearable technology has a way to go before it becomes mainstream, but perhaps not as far as some observers think.  

Parents making back-to-school purchases are willing to open their wallets, if the price is right.   That’s according to a new study from digital savings platform RetailMeNot Inc., "Back-to-School Cheat Sheet: Consumer Trends and Insights for Retailers," back-to-school shoppers plan to spend an average of $273 per child, up from their anticipated spending of $246 in 2015.  

Burlington Stores Inc. is upping its guidance for several key fiscal metrics in the second quarter of fiscal 2016.   The retailer now expects second quarter adjusted net income per share to total $0.28 to $.30, up from a previously announced range of $0.20-$0.23 per share and compared to $0.19 in the same period the previous year. Burlington Stores also currently anticipates adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) in the range of $88 to $90 million, compared to the prior year figure of $75.4 million.

In a move that could help its employees save money, Starbucks Corp. is increasing the number of health insurance options available to its employees.    The coffee giant announced Monday that beginning this fall it will give eligible U.S. employees (those who work 20 hours or more per week) the ability to buy their insurance coverage through a private health exchange, which will increase the number of insurance options available to them.,   

Ace Hardware Corp. is helping independent members of its retail cooperative manage increasingly complex labor regulations.   The hardware chain is leveraging the cloud-based Kronos Workforce Central suite of workforce management solutions. In addition to better management of rising labor law compliance requirements, Ace expects the deployment to also enable improvement of store productivity and increase of associate engagement.  

Just a few short years ago, many people predicted that physical stores would all be replaced by pure-play e-commerce sites.  By now, they thought, brick-and-mortar would be a thing of the past. Though we’ve seen some physical stores close, we’ve also seen some traditionally online retailers open storefronts. The demise of the physical store was greatly overestimated.   

Matt Powers, who formerly held a high-level real estate executive role at Walmart, is shifting professional gears.   Powers has joined real estate services firm JLL Inc. as an executive VP who will serve on the company’s Retail e-commerce Distribution (ReD) platform. He will help advise retailers on their distribution real estate strategies and implement solutions that help clients achieve their supply chain, e-commerce and omni-channel operational goals.  

Retailers are focused on getting leaner.   That’s according to a new study by Accenture, in which 88% of retailers said they were focused on cost reduction to free up funds necessary to reinvest in growth initiatives.  As for where they are those cost savings, the top three areas were expanding into new geographies (cited by 60%), digital technologies (54%) and enhancing customer experiences (52%).