Data & Analytics

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has a vast and complicated corporate infrastructure, but that doesn’t stop the world’s largest retailer from pursuing fast, fact-based decisions based on technology innovation. During a keynote address at the SAP SAPPHIRE conference in Orlando, Florida, Wal-Mart CIO Karenann Terrell described Wal-Mart’s approach to decisions and data.

Columbus, Ohio -- DSW Inc. received the "Best Omni-Channel Experience Award" at the eBay Enterprise's annual Imagine Commerce Conference held in Las Vegas. The award recognizes retailers and brands who deliver exceptional omnichannel customer experience through innovation, creativity and growth.

Seattle -- Online retailer Zulily has launched of its first major website redesign, which will provide a more customized daily shopping experience for each of its customers.

"We are changing the way people shop by allowing customers to easily discover unique and special products every day," said Darrell Cavens, CEO of Zulily. "The site redesign is the first of several initiatives for the year that will allow us to continue to surprise and delight our customer each and every day."

Austin, Texas -- RetailMeNot and Swirl Networks have entered a strategic partnership to bring in-store promotions using new beacon marketing technology to nearly 20 million RetailMeNot mobile app users and thousands of retailers and brands currently in the RetailMeNot marketplace.

Reston, Va. -- Nearly one-half (44%) of retailers used more than five mobile business applications in 2014, while 82% of retailers were able to build a mobile business app in one day or less, according to the “2nd Annual Mobile Business Application Survey” of business and IT decision makers by Canvas.

Among the key survey findings:

New York -- Borderfree, a provider of cross-border e-commerce services, announced that it signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Pitney Bowes Inc. for $14 per share in cash, or approximately $395 million. The acquisition comes as Pitney Bowes looks to expand more into software and digital-commerce services.

Seattle -- Online retailer Zulily announced today that Brian Swartz has been appointed senior VP and CFO, effective June 1, 2015.

Swartz brings more than 20 years of operational and financial experience to Zulily. For the last six years, he served as senior VP and CFO of Apollo Education Group, Inc., a private-sector education company. Swartz joined Apollo from EaglePicher Incorporated, a technology and industrial products and services company, where he served as VP and corporate controller.

Former Apple and JCPenney executive Ron Johnson’s career has been marked by spectacular success and failure, which is why his new retail venture called Enjoy is of interest, even if it borrows heavily from a service Best Buy launched more than a decade ago.

Billed as a “a whole new way to buy and enjoy technology,” Johnson secured $30 million in funding last fall and launched the service on Wednesday in the San Francisco area and debuts May 13 in New York.

With retailers and CPG companies continuing to struggle with in-store execution issues like on-shelf availability, inventory and promotions, leading supply chain analytics and insights provider Orchestro asked industry thought leaders to weigh in on the three key questions.

Go to the Orchestro article by clicking here.

Flash sale site Zulily is making “significant progress” toward growth, accord to its CEO, and moving ahead with the launch of a redesigned website.

The company reported that revenue in the first quarter ended in March rose nearly 30%, year over year, to $306.6 million, missing consensus for $314 million, yielding EPS of a penny per share.