Data & Analytics

Papa John’s highlights ingredients via social media
Louisville, Ky. – Papa John’s wants to be sure customers know exactly what ingredients go into its pizzas. The quick-service chain is enhancing its social content with a series of Instagram and Vine videos about the ingredients it uses, accompanied by Twitter and Facebook content focusing on each ingredient category.

Distributed across Papa John’s social channels during the next seven weeks, the new content will highlight its core ingredients one-by-one — beginning with dough and ending with cheese.
Target website, stores overwhelmed by demand for Lilly Pulitzer
New York -- The launch of Target Corp.'s hotly awaited Lily Pulitzer collection on Sunday caused a shopping frenzy, both in stores and online. It also provoked a firestorm of criticism on social media from shoppers and Lily fans, who found themselves shut out of being able to buy product, in some cases, minutes after the line became available.

Target stores, websites overloaded by Lilly Pulitzer demand

Overwhelming demand for Target's Lily Pulitzer collection caused a shopping frenzy over the weekend both in stores and online.
Kmart boosts its pharmacy rewards program

Kmart is trying to increase pharmacy traffic with a new Shop Your Way rewards program that gives members $10 back in points (10,000 points) for every five qualifying prescriptions filled in a rolling 12-month period.
Rite Aid has a new information chief

Rite Aid Corp. announced Monday that Steve Rempel, a highly experienced information technology executive, has been named Rite Aid's SVP and chief information officer.
9 things retailers need to know about data breaches

Verizon is out with its annual cyber security report and while the findings are disturbing the good news is that retailers can thwart many a breach attempt by focusing on a handful of basic attack patterns.

Verizon's "2015 Data Breach Investigations Report," reveals that cyberattacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated, but many criminals still rely on decades-old techniques such as phishing and hacking. In fact, 70% of cyberattacks use a combination of these techniques and involve a secondary victim which adds complexity to a breach, according to the report.
Foot Locker launches mobile app — with sneaker emoji

New York -- Foot Locker has launched its first smartphone mobile application for iOS and Android, along with 85 “Shoemoji” sneaker replica emoticons. The emoticons allow customers to share their love of sneakers in a visual way. They can also show off some of their favorite styles with the new Shoemojis.
And the strongest housing markets are…

New York -- Retailers with stores in Denver, San Antonio, Nashville, Fort Lauderdale and Dallas might see some strong sales in the months ahead based on a new report, which identifies those cities as the nation’s hottest housing market.
Boston Marathon RunBase, Boston
Study: Electronic payments up 5% in 2014

Herndon, Va. - In 2014, ACH (automated clearing house) volume grew to almost 23 billion electronic payments, an increase of almost 5%, or 1 billion transactions, from 2013 volume. According to new statistics released by NACHA — The Electronic Payments Association, a total of more than $40 trillion was transferred via NACHA’s ACH Network in 2014, increasing more than 3% compared to 2013.
Tech Guest Viewpoint: Click and Collect: Are U.S. Retailers Ready?

By Gary Whittemore, Experian FootFall

The quest to offer greater levels of customer convenience has seen a growing number of U.S. retailers experiment with flexible fulfilment methods, including click and collect, which offers shoppers the opportunity to pick up online orders from a store.

Although click and collect has already taken European markets by storm, adoption in the U.S. has been somewhat slower. However, U.S. organizations are now beginning to see consumer appetite rise.
Investors throw money at Etsy IPO

Shares of Etsy enjoyed a meteoric rise during their first day of trading on April 16, closing at $30 a share after shares in the initial public offering were priced at $16.