Data & Analytics

Costco, Amazon.com and Apple rank highest in customer loyalty, according to this year’s Net Promoter Consumer Study.

The study ranks more than 220 brands, such as Costco, Amazon.com, Apple and more across 22 U.S. industry sectors, including financial services, insurance, technology, online entertainment, retail stores, electronics, travel and hospitality, and telecommunications.

Dollar General is thinking digital this spring with a new way to appeal to coupon-clipping customers.

The retailer is launching a new digital coupon program called Fast Way to Save that offers customers approximately $200 each week in online coupon savings now through April 19.

Customers will see additional weekly specials on dozens of discounts on Easter merchandise and a buy-one, get-one free sale on select apparel and accessories, as well as its everyday low prices on thousands of items throughout the store.

Amazon is leveraging a hot trend in toys and education with a new online store focused on what is known as STEM.

The shop will feature a variety of toys and games that are focused on encouraging kids to develop science (S), technology (T), engineering (E) and/or math-related (M) skills.

New York -- The Home Depot Inc. has appointed former Time Warner and Visa executive Jamil Farshchi to the new position of chief information security officer (CISO), the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported. The move comes months after the home improvement retailer said its payment systems were breached at some 2,200 U.S. and Canadian stores.

New York -- The death of the mall has been highly exaggerated, according to data released Monday by the International Council of Shopping Centers and the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries. Among the highlights: Shopping center occupancy rates were 92.7% at the end of 2014, the highest level since second quarter 2008, according to data released Monday. Occupancy was even higher for the mall segment (combined super-regional and regional malls), at 94.2% at the end of 2014, the highest since the end of 1987.   

Bolingbrook, Ill. - For fast-growing retailer Ulta Beauty, having an omnichannel presence does not just mean selling products across multiple touch-points. As Ulta Beauty executives explained during a presentation at the recent Oracle Industry Connect 2015 conference, the retailer uses an Oracle Retail technology platform to support a range of omnichannel experiences that engage customers at a highly personal level.

Herzogenerauch, Germany - Employing 45 profit protection managers and using three different POS systems across 11 global markets, Germany-based vertical athletic apparel/footwear retailer Adidas does not have an easy time managing loss prevention. But as demonstrated in a presentation at the recent Oracle Industry Connect 2015 conference, Adidas is simplifying loss prevention with the use of the Micros XBR loss prevention solution.

Brick-and-mortar stores are in transition from being viewed as a relic of the 20th century to being understood as the linchpin of 21st century omnichannel retailing. In the SPECS session “Reinventing Brick & Mortar Retail,” speaker Nadia Shouraboura, founder and CEO, Hointer Inc., explained just how wide-ranging that transition will be.

“The next 10 years will see more profound change in store design that we’ve seen in the last 1,000 years,” said Shouraboura.

By Dan Goldman, Kurt Salmon

Just like bell-bottoms and leg warmers, mom-and-pop retailers are back. Not long ago, it seemed like they would be permanently relegated to some dusty attic space, a relic fighting for relevancy.

Big-box stores put them there. Between 1992 and 2014, the share of U.S. retail stores owned by companies with fewer than 500 employees fell 13%.i That’s because big boxes promised lower prices and a wider assortment, points brought home by large mass market advertising campaigns.

Cambridge, Mass. – Mobile traffic during the 2014 holiday season peaked on Thanksgiving (50% of online traffic) and hit a low point on Cyber Monday (30% of online traffic). According to the 2014 Online Holiday Shopping Trends and Traffic report from e-commerce solutions provider Akamai Technologies, Cyber Monday still proved to be the most popular shopping day of the season, with overall retail traffic peaking at almost 13 million page views per minute (V/PM).