Data & Analytics

Shopper sentiment surged in the first quarter of 2015 amid optimism over the labor market, job stability, personal finances and gas prices, according to a new survey.

Weis Markets says its customer experience strategy is paying off, as the grocery chain credited the effort with its increase in same store sales in the first quarter.

ChannelAdvisor Corp. has promoted its current chief operating officer to CEO.

The provider of cloud-based e-commerce solutions announced that its board of directors has appointed David Spitz as CEO and a director. Spitz, who currently serves as president and COO, succeeds Scot Wingo, who has been appointed executive chairman.

New York -- O’Reilly Automotive posted a strong first quarter, laying the foundation for continued growth in 2015. America’s second largest retailer in the automotive aftermarket industry said its expansion plans are on track after profit rose in the first quarter on higher sales and better margins, continuing a trend of 15% or greater profit growth for the past six years. The company said it plans to build a new distribution center in Texas to help support its 205 new stores in 2015.

San Francisco -- Shoppers think it is cool to get digital help finding relevant products and information – and navigating the store, according to a study by RichRelevance. But they are creeped out by digital capabilities that identify, track and use location and demographics, such as targeted advertisements based on facial recognition. In addition, the dressing room is the one area where personalized product information and recommendations are not welcome.

Hoboken, N.J. – Amazon.com may be hoping to fly high with drone-based deliveries, but a rival e-commerce platform is also planning to take off soon. Jet.com, a subscription-based e-commerce site that hopes to compete with the Amazon Prime membership service using “profit-free” pricing, promises to launch soon.

Dallas – Tuesday Morning Corp. has promoted Melissa Phillips, who currently serves as executive VP and general merchandise manager, to the newly created position of president and COO. In this role, Phillips will be directly responsible for merchandising, store operations and marketing, and will report directly to CEO Michael Rouleau.

Woonsocket, R.I. - CVS Health showed vitality in the first quarter of fiscal 2015. The retailer beat expectations in areas such as earnings per share (EPS) and pharmacy benefit management (PBM) operating profit.
 

San Francisco - Visa Inc. is expanding its technology research capabilities globally and appointing Min Wang to senior VP of Visa Research Labs. Wang joins Visa from Google Research, where she was a senior staff research scientist focused on data mining.

She also held senior staff research roles at HP Labs China and at the Unified Data Analytics Department at the IBM Watson Research Center.

New York - L'Oreal USA is announcing the first measured results of its global sustainability program, Sharing Beauty With All. By 2020, the company pledges that 100% of products will have an environmental or social benefit and 100% of strategic suppliers will be evaluated on their social and environmental performance.