Data & Analytics

It was a big season for online retailers. From November through December 2015, the final sales tally exceeded $83 billion (12.7% more than the year before). Cyber Monday alone ended up being the single largest online shopping day in history, generating over $3 billion in sales.

Concord, California-based specialty beverage retailer BevMo is ensuring customers have easy access to products, whether they are in one of its 157 stores or online.

The National Retail Federation confirmed what many retailers already knew and made a downward revision to a holiday forecast that initially called for 3.7% growth.
 
Citing what it called “unforeseen events,” the National Retail Federation (NRF) said sales during November and December increased 3% to $626 billion, down from an earlier forecast which envisioned growth of 3.7%.   
 

The National Retail Federation confirmed what many retailers already knew and made a downward revision to a holiday forecast that initially called for 3.7% growth.

Citing what it called “unforeseen events,” the National Retail Federation (NRF) said sales during November and December increased 3% to $626 billion, down from an earlier forecast which envisioned growth of 3.7%.

The NRF annual “Big Show” conference is always marked by a few key technology trends. While the event has been known to throw a few unexpected surprises at attendees, usually it confirms and advances the direction industry momentum has been traveling.

Here are three major themes that will likely be prominently featured and discussed at this year’s NRF conference, which runs January 17 - 20, at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City.

‘Omnichannel’ Comes of Age

In the next few years, retailers around the world are set to substantially increase their investments in e-commerce software, with five vendors spearheading the growth.

According to a new study from Research and Markets, the global retail e-commerce software market will expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.95% during the period 2014-2019. Research and Markets has identified Magento, Oracle ATG Commerce, PrestaShop, Shopify and WooThemes as the five key retail e-commerce vendors.

Sally Beauty Supply is applying analytics to the literal consumer touchpoint where revenues are made -- the point of sale.

Sally Beauty is teaming up with prescriptive analytics provider Profitect Inc. to analyze sales and other data recorded at its in-store POS terminals. After a two-week implementation, Sally Beauty now has better insight into trends and patterns associated with areas of leaking profit, including shrink, damage, costing errors, waste, process mistakes, and lack of training.

Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc. offers a highly customized product across multiple channels, which can make planning tricky.

Add in that the 400-store global retailer has an aggressive strategy for further international growth, and ensuring the accuracy and timeliness of its omnichannel merchandise planning becomes what could be called a “bearish” task.