Data & Analytics

Seattle — More than one million customers around the world joined the Amazon Prime membership program in the third week of December. The entire 2013 holiday season was the best ever for Amazon, with more than 36.8 million items ordered worldwide on Cyber Monday, or 426 items per second.

New York -- Due to the holiday rush and related closings, Chain Store Age has extended the deadline for its 32nd annual Retail Store of the Year Design Competition until Wednesday, January 8, 2014.

More than 20 competition categories are featured, including department stores, supermarkets, discounters, restaurants, convenience stores, specialty stores, service, sustainability and pop-up stores. This year, for the first time, the competition also includes the category of in-store digital innovation.

The nation’s largest egg producer said premium prices for specialty products and an acquisition allowed it to growth sales and nearly double profits during its second quarter.

San Francisco – Bitcoin digital wallet service Coinbase is releasing two new apps intended to spread the acceptance of Bitcoin payment by retailers. The Coinbase Merchant application handles POS functionality, including offline, while Coinbase for Android 2.0 features a new UI along with improved speed, reliability, and ease of use.

New York -- Online discount retailer Overstock.com plans to let shoppers pay with the digital currency Bitcoin starting in June, according to The New York Times.

The report said the retailer is reviewing several third-party firms that facilitate Bitcoin transactions, and that it hopes to have one place by mid-January.

If the plan is carried out, Overstock will be the most prominent retailer to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment.

New York -- Zappos took the top spot in a ranking of fastest holiday shippers according to a study by Kurt Salmon and StellaService. The study analyzed shipping times for orders placed on Cyber Monday from more than 50 retailers across a broad range of retail sectors, from big boxes to online-only players. It found that retailers in the top-five delivered multi-unit orders in an average of 2.9 days.

The top five companies for holiday shipping are the following:

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. admitted Friday that “strongly encrypted PIN data” was removed during the hacking that compromised some 40 million credit- and debit-card accounts between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15. The retailer said it remains “confident” that customers’ PIN numbers are safe and secure.

New York -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) for the U.S. increased 0.8% in November to 98.3 (2004 = 100), following a 0.1% increase in October, and a 1% increase in September.