Data & Analytics

Efficient Collaborative Retail Marketing (ECRM), a leader in business innovation and technology, has hired retail business-to-business media veteran Wayne Bennett as senior VP, retail to lead business process initiatives between the retail industry and the supplier community that serves them.  

With back-to-school spending on a “stock up” cycle rather than a “make do” cycle, total spending for K-12 and college school supplies is expected to reach $75.8 billion, up from last year’s $68 billion, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights and Analytics.   

Starbucks Corp.’s revenue fell short in the third quarter even as its earnings were in line with expectations.       The company posted $5.24 billion in consolidated net sales for the quarter ended June 26, up 7% over the year-ago period, but below analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. The increase was primarily driven by the opening of 1,876 net new stores over the past 12 months and a 4% increase in global comparable store sales.    

Amazon Prime has added yet another item to its growing lineup of membership benefits: discounts on student loans.   The online giant is teaming up with Wells Fargo to offer Amazon Prime Student members a discount on private student loans that are taken out through Wells Fargo Educational Financial Services, the largest private student lender among U.S. commercial banks. (Membership in Amazon Prime Student costs $49 a year, which is half the price of a regular Amazon Prime membership.)  

eBay beat sales expectations in its second quarter, during which it also crossed an important threshold.

The online marketplace reported that it crossed the one billion live listings mark in the quarter, reflecting its efforts to expand the breadth of selection offered to consumers and the progress it has made on enhancing its shopping platform.

eBay reported net income of $435 million, or 38 cents a share, up from $83 million.

Available space in strip centers dipped to 11% in the second quarter, the lowest rate for these neighborhood venues since 2008. The reason: omnichannel growth and format experimentation, according to CBRE, which tracked availability across 62 U.S. markets.  

Augmented reality mobile game Pokémon Go has given a big sales boost to GameStop.