Data & Analytics

New York -- Consumers are predominantly using social media as a tool to give positive feedback, according to eDigitalResearch. Of the 2,000 consumers surveyed who have used social media to contact a brand in the past year, 6% have used social media to send positive feedback about a company compared to 2% who said they have used this touch point to send a complaint.

Mountain View, Calif. -- Consumers who use digital coupons both shop more and spend more than the average shopper. According to the  "Digital Coupon Redeemer: Shopper Trends" report, heavy digital coupon users shop 47%  more often than the average shopper, spending $6,081 annually on groceries and household goods alone – a 114% more than the national average.

Duluth, Georgia -- NCR announced that California-based apparel retailer M. Fredric is enhancing its retail point-of-sale (POS) and inventory management systems with NCR Counterpoint.

The solution provides M. Fredric with a single retail management software platform to closely track purchases and inventory levels in real-time across its nine brick-and-mortar locations and e-commerce store. By providing real-time sales data, NCR Counterpoint will enable M. Fredric to benefit from increased visibility for stock purchasing decisions.

Plug and Play brings together retailers and start-ups that offer specific technology and expertise that can relieve merchants’ pain points. Chain Store Age’s Customer Disruption newsletter provides a Q&A with the CEO of one of those companies in each issue. This time, the spotlight is on Brian Ley of BiddRocket.

What does your company do?

Chicago -- Retailers looking for opportunities in emerging markets should look East, particularly to China, which ranks as the top country in A.T. Kearney’s annual Global Retail Development Index (GRDI). China, which returns to number one in the GRDI rankings for the first time since 2010, is expected to surpass the United States as the world's largest retail market by 2018.

By Emily Westridge Black and Christopher Quinlan

With major data breaches making headline news on a near-weekly basis, the retail industry is increasingly focused on cybersecurity. When creating their cybersecurity plans retailers should: 

• Create a strong cybersecurity team that is cross-sectional, and include personnel from legal, information technology, human resources, and communications or public relations departments. The team should also include at least one member of senior management.

Amazon  is facing increased competition these days. In some of the more publicized developments, subscription-based e-commerce site Jet.com is taking off soon, EBay is piloting a service to compete with Amazon Prime in Germany, and Google is reportedly planning to introduce a “buy” button that will turn searches into transactions.

Beyond the natural competition any successful business generates, there are specific factors making it more appealing than ever for retailers of all sizes to try taking on Amazon. Here are three of the most significant ones.

Social media users would rather post positive feedback to retailers than post a complaint, according to a new survey.

Research from eDigitalResearch reveals that consumers are predominantly using social media as a tool to give positive feedback. Of the 2,000 consumers surveyed who have used social media to contact a brand in the past year, 6% have used social media to send positive feedback about a company compared to 2% who said they have used this touch point to send a complaint.

Boot Barn is stepping up its e-commerce game with the acquisiton of Sheplers for a purchase price of $147 million.

Books continue to be a tough sell at Books-A-Million, which reported a decline in revenue and same store sales in the first quarter.

Revenue at Books-A-Million fell 1.9% in the first quarter ended May 2, compared to the prior year quarter. Total sales fell to $101.8 million, while the net loss was cut to $5.3 million from $5.6 million. Same store sales dropped 0.9%.