Data & Analytics

By Dwayne Melancon, chief technology officer, Tripwire

Irvine, Calif. — Home automation product retailer Smarthome has deployed the 360pi 360price solution, providing the retailer with pricing intelligence for 3,000 SKUs in near real-time. Smarthome had built an in-house solution to compete with the SKUs carried by the large online pure-plays, but these SKUs only accounted for a fraction of its revenues.

More importantly, Smarthome needed a reliable solution to address its direct competitive set, those retailers focused expressly on the home automation market.

The weather posed a significant challenge for Fred’s in January. According to CEO Bruce A. Efird, Mother Nature not only disrupted consumer shopping patterns, but also resulted in more than 120 store closings during the final week of the month.

“Prior to the last week of January, sales were running in the mid-range of our forecast, with reconfiguration departments leading the way,” Efird explained.

Fred's total sales for January were $134.8 million compared with $173.5 million for the five-week year-earlier period.

Target CFO John Mulligan ably represented the company in testimony before a Senate committee on Tuesday, but the one in the hot seat should have been chairman, president and CEO Gregg Steinhafel.
 
Recall when the nation’s bankrupt automakers needed a bailout, it was the CEOs of General Motors and Chrysler who appeared before legislators. And when big banks came under fire for their role in the housing crisis it was the financial firms’ CEOs who endured lawmakers pointed questions.

By Bob Russo, general manager, PCI Security Standards Council

With the latest attacks at big name retailers, the pressure is on for businesses of all sizes to demonstrate that they’re doing whatever it takes to keep their customers’ confidential information safe and out of the hands of the bad guys. But with headlines changing every day on what actually happened and how, many retailers are unsure of where to begin making changes.

Leading electronics-focused e-retailer Newegg is looking to grow its customer base while keeping existing customers happy with a new customer-benefit program, which offers, in part, complimentary expedited shipping for $49.99 per year.

Birmingham, Ala. -- Hibbett Sports, an established user of JDA technology since 2006, has added JDA Markdown Optimization to its supply chain solutions. As a result, Hibbett has gained a better understanding of its regional selling seasons, as well as the differences in merchandise seasonality, in order to move products in and out of the stores more quickly.

Xoom, a leading digital money transfer provider, has acquired BlueKite, LTD, a cutting edge technology company that develops applications to improve the way people around the world pay their bills, for approximately $15 million in cash and equity.

Guatemala City-based BlueKite, which currently has 30 employees, caught Xoom’s eye because of its technology platform for cross-border bill payments and mobile phone top-ups. This acquisition will allow Xoom to offer adjacent services to its money transfer offerings.