Data & Analytics

New York -- Consumer confidence fell sharply in October, according to The Conference Board, whose monthly consumer confidence measure dropped to 71.2 in October, down from 80.2 in September. Economists had expected a reading of 75.0 in October.

The Present Situation Index decreased to 70.7 from 73.5.The Expectations Index fell to 71.5 from 84.7 last month.

OurPet's Company, a leading proprietary pet supply company, saw sales in its grocery, mass retail and pet specialty channels grow substantially in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, compared to the same period last year.

The company’s sales were also complemented by higher international sales, which were up more than 42% from the same quarter a year ago.

Yorba Linda, Calif. -- Jon Rosen, executive VP of indoor location analytics technology provider iInside, will provide an in-depth review of how retail traffic analytics work, how retailers benefit from precise shopper traffic insights, how traffic data is operationalized to drive revenue, and how to choose between the many indoor petitioning methods available during a live webinar on Wednesday, Oct. 30, at 9:30 a.m. PDT.

According to ShopperTrak, a leading provider of shopper analytics, the busiest holiday shopping days will occur between Dec. 20 and Dec. 24, and retailers should prepare accordingly.

Additionally, with a shortened shopping season and only four weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas — down from five last year — retailers must be ready to capture holiday spending during a narrower window of time.

Waldorf, Germany – Retailers see a need for functional competencies leaning toward technology and data skills, even more than general business and people management. But a new survey of 76 retail managers from top retailers conducted by SAP during the recent SAP Retail Forum North America in Dallas, Texas revealed that 84% of retailers are worried that it will be challenging to find employees with these skills.

Amazon.com is finalizing plans to open a new 1.2 million-sq.-ft. fulfillment center in Moreno Valley, Calif., which will create more than 1,000 full-time jobs ahead of the holiday shopping season.

This will be Amazon’s fourth fulfillment center in the state. The company’s other sites are located in Patterson, San Bernardino and Tracy.

Bedford, Mass. – Daily mobile/online retail revenues surge an average of 55% on Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving), but a corresponding surge in attacks drives hard losses, on average, as much as $500,000 per hour or $8,000 per minute. In addition, a new study of 1,100 U.S., and U.K., retail IT staffers from RSA and the Ponemon Institute shows that 66% of respondents expect that disruption would result in customer churn that would damage reputation and brand and could push losses as high as $3.4 million from a single hour of disruption.

Rakuten LinkShare saw strong third quarter results in its global performance marketing network. Along with double-digit growth, the affiliate network reported a significant increase in the percentage of sales transacted on mobile devices.

The company reported an increase in same store sales in the U.S. of 22% year-over-year, and an increase in same store sales in the U.K. of 34% year-over-year.