Data & Analytics

Chicago -- Retail CFOs are feeling more confident about the state of the consumer, forecast a 5.1% increase in total sales and a 4.8% increase in same-store sales this year, according to a new BDO USA survey. The finding marks a significant increase from the number expressing similar sentiments last year.

In the study,  a majority (63%) of CFOs indicate that they include online sales in their comparable sales projections, suggesting that some of this expected growth and optimism may be linked to the exploding popularity of e-commerce.

Boston - Shoebuy.com has named Anabela Perozek as the company's new CMO. Perozek joins Shoebuy's senior management team and will report to CEO Mike Sorabella.

Beijing – Chinese e-commerce retailer Alibaba is reportedly planning to open a U.S. e-commerce website through its subsidiaries Vendio and Auctiva. According to Reuters, the site will operate at 11main.com.

Helen Bryan has become the second author in the Amazon Publishing stable of writers to surpass 1 million copies in combined print, audio and Kindle editions.

Bryan, author of historical novels "War Brides" (2012) and "The Sisterhood" (2013), follows Amazon Publishing author Oliver Pötzsch over the 1 million threshold.

Reston, Va. -- comScore and Google are partnering to offer a real-time audience metric designed to help brand marketers easily measure campaigns across screens. After a period of testing, comScore vCE will be available to DoubleClick marketer and publisher clients, built into the widely used ad management platform.

Urban Outfitters reported substantial gains in net sales for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2014, driven primarily by the company’s Anthropologie and Free People brands.

Total company sales in the quarter increased 6% to $906 million from $856.8 million in the year-ago period — less than Wall Street expected.

Cincinnati -- The Kroger Co. announced it has purchased the assets of YOU Technology Brand Services, the Silicon Valley-based provider of digital coupons and promotions. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Residents of the Washington, D.C., metro area can now have products ordered from supermarket operator Harris Teeter delivered within the hour following Instacart’s entry into the market.

Instacart’s network of personal shoppers began delivering items ordered from Harris Teeter on Feb. 11. The service provider expects to add other retailers in the coming weeks which would allow shoppers to combine items from multiple stores in a single order and have them delivered in as little as one hour.