Data & Analytics

Consumers don’t see “channels.” They are time-starved and information-rich, and use technology that they carry around in their pockets and purses to find the best solutions to their lifestyle needs.

The practice in retail of creating different brand experiences in different channels has gone beyond being an inconvenience to shoppers. It is the central challenge that retailers are grappling with today.

Retail is becoming an increasingly hot market for hosted cloud computing providers. Some of those providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the Aliyun cloud division of Alibaba, are operated by retailers.

The pace of store closings at Office Depot is accelerating and employee retention costs are rising as the retailer maintains that its merger with Staples will close by year end.

The options for consumers who dread the store checkout lane are exploding now that fast growing Instacart is on a hiring spree and competitor Deliv says it will be expanding into more than 100 cities.

Walgreens Boots Alliance has hired a former controller at American Express as its next accounting chief.

Petco is preparing for a potential initial public offering or sale that could value the pet supplies retailer at between $4 billion and $5 billion.

Reuters is reporting that the retailer has selected Goldman Sachs to help with an IPO of the San Diego-based company that could take place as soon as this year.

With second-quarter net revenues up 7.4% to $37.2 billion, CVS Health shows no signs of slowing down.

Shopko Stores is looking more closely at how it uses store space and how customers fill their baskets.

The retailer has renewed its license of APT’s Test & Learn and Market Basket Analyzer software and APT’s Space Planning Optimizer software. 

Chicago -- Positive economic, retail and consumer trends are setting the stage for a positive back-to-school season, according to consumer insights and location-based analytics provider ShopperTrak.

A new infographic from the company details key trends and also reveals the important role millennials will play in back-to-school shopping.  

Lakeland, Fla. -- Publix Super Markets is racking up another record year even as other grocers, including Whole Foods Market, are struggling under the weight of new competition.

Publix reports that sales for the second quarter were $8 billion, a 6% increase from last year’s $7.5 billion. Same store sales for the second quarter increased 4.1%.

Net earnings were $482.7 million, compared to $404.1 million in 2014, an increase of 19.5%.