Data & Analytics

New York – A majority of business websites are not ready for prime time, at least when it comes to global commerce.

According to a new survey from multilingual search agency Oban Digital, while 67% of business executive respondents say that internationalization is a key part of their growth strategy, only 20% of businesses have all of their current online communications adapted for local culture or language, a key driver of sales success.

Duluth, Ga. -- Great American Cookies has deployed the NCR Silver cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) platform in 89 of its franchise stores nationwide, with additional stores on the horizon this year.

Several factors led to Great American Cookies’ adoption of the platform company-wide, including software integration, ease of use, mobility and value per benefit.

By Frank Layo, Kurt Salmon

First the bad news: The chronic congestion tying the West Coast ports in knots is on track to cost U.S. retailers some $7 billion this year, and losses could total nearly $37 billion by the end of 2016.

And the good news? At the moment, there doesn’t seem to be much to speak of.

By Haydn Simpson, NetNames

Chicago -- Retail CFOs predict a 3.9% increase in total sales and a 3.7% increase in same-store sales in 2015, according to a new BDO USA survey.

While the forecast is about one percentage point lower than 2014’s bullish projections, 66% of retailers expect comparable store sales to increase, and with 71% of retailers including online sales in their comparable store sales reports, a considerable amount of this 2015 growth may come from further e-commerce sales, which grew 16% in 2014, according to eMarketer.

I recently had the chance to spend some time talking with Dan Ward, cofounder of app development firm Detroit Labs. Since 2011, Detroit Labs has developed apps in its downtown Detroit center, rapidly growing to 75 employees and serving a wide range of companies including Domino’s Pizza. Here are five tips for developing a successful retail app gleaned from my conversation with Ward:

1. Connect the brick-and-mortar and digital channels

San Francisco -- Deputy Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin, U.S. Department of Treasury, on Friday discussed next-generation retail payment technologies designed to protect the convenience and sense of trust consumers hold for what has become an increasingly digital marketplace with several industry leaders across the omnichannel supply chain at the White House Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection.

Amsterdam, Netherlands – Data breaches are on the rise around the world. Digital security provider Gemalto released the latest edition of its Breach Level Index (BLI), revealing that more than 1,500 data breaches led to one billion data records compromised worldwide during 2014.

London – Leading U.K. supermarket chain Tesco plc is reportedly considering laying off as many as 10,000 employees in response to poor profit performance. According to the Sunday Telegraph, Tesco may lay off up to 6,000 employees from its head office and 43 stores the retailer already announced it will close, and eliminate the rest by streamlining operations.

Jobs eliminated by streamlining would include executive positions. In January, Tesco said it would shutter 43 stores with as many as 2,000 resulting layoffs.
 

Seattle – Nordstrom Inc. has named Shellye L. Archambeau, CEO of GRC/quality management software provider MetricStream Inc., to the company's board of directors. Her addition brings the total number of directors to 13, 10 of whom serve as independent directors.