Data & Analytics

 Indianapolis -- Simon announced that Krystal Zell has been named senior VP of marketing. In this newly created role, Zell will oversee the field marketing organization for all Simon Malls, The Mills and Simon Premium Outlets.

Zell served as VP of Starwood Preferred Guest at Starwood Hotels & Resorts where she led the loyalty strategy, business development and operations for its Starwood Preferred Guest and B2B loyalty programs.





 

New York -- This special report from Chain Store Age offers a recap of the issues and trends that surfaced at the NRF’s 2015 Annual Convention & Expo (the “Big Show”).

Download the report here and read about retailing’s global outlook, the outlook for online spending, the changing luxury market, hot technology trends and more.

Fort Worth, Texas – Pier 1 Imports Inc. has named senior VP of planning Laura A. Coffey, 48, as interim CFO. The move comes as Pier 1 reduces its guidance for fiscal 2015 and Charles “Cary” Turner retires as senior executive VP and CFO.

Seattle – Amazon.com keeps on rolling out new products, technologies and services. The latest is Amazon Giveaway, a new self-service tool designed to modernize radio giveaways.

Everyone from authors, aspiring artists, non-profits, brands, bloggers, social media gurus and more, can now use Amazon to create a giveaway, choosing prizes from millions of eligible physical items. Amazon Giveaway is an intuitive tool that allows anyone to create and host their own giveaway, to generate awareness and reward their audiences.

Bentonville, Ark. – Phoenix area consumers have a new option for online grocery shopping, at least for now. According to the Phoenix Business Journal, Wal-Mart is piloting an online grocery service in and around Phoenix.

Charlotte, N.C. – Family Dollar Stores Inc. is putting its head in a cloud in order to clear its operations. As part of a three-year agreement, Family Dollar has licensed Cloud360, Cognizant's proprietary, enterprise-class cloud management platform developed on Amazon Web Services for its portal applications.

Savannah, Ga. – Specialty discount apparel retailer Citi Trends Inc. reported some encouraging trends in terms of sales for fiscal and full year 2014. Total sales for the fourth quarter increased 15% to $181.1 million, compared with $157.2 million in the same period a year earlier.

Same-store sales increased 13.9% in the fourth quarter. A number of winter storm-related closings in January 2014 and an earlier start to tax refund season the last two days of the month in January 2015 helped boost same-store sales for the quarter.

Carrollton, Texas - In a move designed to offer its guests a more enhanced, robust and personalized experience both inside and outside of the restaurant, TGI Fridays has selected two new agencies – Made Movement (Made) and Meredith Xcelerated Marketing (MXM) – to manage all future digital marketing, e-mail and technology campaigns.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid is set to acquire the leading independent pharmacy benefit manager Envision Pharmaceutical in a deal valued at $2 billion, the retailer announced Wednesday.    Rite Aid shares were up more than 8% in pre-market trading on the news.   

Editor Katherine Boccaccio interviews Buxton's Senior Vice Preseident, Bill Stinneford, at NRF's Big Show 2015.