Data & Analytics

By Carin van Vuuren, Usablenet

If there was ever any doubt of mobile’s essential role to retail success, the most recent holiday shopping season should put that to bed. Last year, more than 40% of all Cyber Monday sales came from mobile devices. In fact, Amazon stated that almost 60% of its customers shopped via mobile during the 2014 holiday season, with total U.S. sales from its app doubling from 2013.

Barcelona -- There are few, if any, limits to how digital technologies will transform retail as we know it.

At this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, established players such as IBM and Qualcomm and nimble startups including Imersivo and Compass.to showed off innovations in augmented reality, mobile payments, clienteling, and more, offering tools for employee empowerment, data-driven decision-making, true omnichanneling retailing, and beyond.

IBM MobileFirst Sales Assist

The Woodlands, Texas -- Conn’s Inc. on Tuesday reported a bigger-than-expected 44% decrease in its fourth-quarter profit amid ongoing problems with its credit-financing business. The retailer said it is exploring a sale of all or a portion of its loan portfolio and will stop selling video game products, digital cameras and certain tablets. It also said it remains on track to open 15 to 18 stores this year.

For the fourth quarter ended Jan. 31, Conn’s reported a profit of $15.5 million, down from $27.7 million in the year-ago period.

Austin, Texas -- The United States continues to lead e-commerce among the most Internet-friendly markets surveyed in North America and Europe, according to an international study commissioned by RetailMeNot.

Norwell, Mass. -- Bluestone Energy Services and Ahold USA are increasing their energy conservation initiative in 2015 by expanding the reach of projects to touch stores in all regions and to increase the energy savings in new projects while also continuing to improve the efficiency of existing projects.

Atlanta -- Deployment of in-store Wi-Fi had the most significant positive impact on retail sales and loyalty of any technology initiative, according to a survey by IHL Group. Almost half of the participating retailers claimed increased customer loyalty due to deploying in-store employee Wi-Fi, with an associated 3.4% increase in sales. One-third of retailers (28%) reported increased customer loyalty due to deploying in-store customer Wi-Fi, with an associated 2% increase in sales.

Home Depot, which was hit by a widely publicized data breach in 2014, has reportedly hired its first chief information security officer, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Atlanta-based Home Depot Inc. has appointed former Time Warner and Visa executive Jamil Farshchi to the new position of chief information security officer (CISO), according to the Journal.

The move comes months after the home improvement retailer said its payment systems were breached at some 2,200 U.S. and Canadian stores.

A new deal between IBM and The Weather Company promises to give retailers and suppliers access to a new range of insights to drive all manner of demand forecasting, merchandising and replenishment decision-making.

PetSmart Inc. is looking to drive growth with six new executive appointments focused in the areas of customer experience, merchandise planning, strategy, initiatives, sourcing and real estate.

The additions to the senior leadership team reflect the first major hires by PetSmart’s newly installed president and CEO, Michael Massey.

Ongoing problems with its credit-financing business led Conn's to post a large decrease in profits for the fourth quarter.

Overall, for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 31, Conn’s reported a profit of $15.5 million, or 42 cents a share, compared with a profit of $27.7 million, or 75 cents a share, a year earlier.