Data & Analytics

Tech Guest Viewpoint - Proximity Marketing brings Shoppers to Stores
By Alex Romanov, iSign Media The holiday season is a time of family, food, and frenzied shopping. Consumers are bombarded by messages, promotions, discounts, and offers, and retailers have to be smart about how they reach out to their customers. Email blasts or paper coupons just won’t cut it. In this mobile-obsessed era, proximity marketing is a powerful way to break through the noise and bring shoppers into your store.
Study: Customers less satisfied in Q3
Ann Arbor, Mich. – Rolling Stones fans will sympathize with the devilish problem facing American customers, who couldn’t get satisfaction in the third quarter of 2014. The national level of customer satisfaction fell 0.7% in the third quarter of 2014 to 75.6 on a 100-point scale, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), pointing to weak spending growth for the fourth quarter.

Pantry beats Street with Q4 profit, misses on revenue

Cary, N.C. – The Pantry Inc. beat Wall Street expectations with net income but missed on revenue in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. Net income dramatically shot up to $14.7 million from $1 million in the same period a year earlier, aided by costs and expenses that remained level or dropped. Revenue fell 3% to $1.95 billion from $2.02 billion, with declining fuel sales offsetting rising merchandising sales.
Buckle shuffles management roster

Kearney, Neb. – The Buckle Inc. has made a number of reappointments to its executive staff. Kelli D. Molczyk has been appointed to the position of VP of women’s merchandising, Diane L. Applegate has been appointed to the position of VP of supply chain and merchandising operations, and Thomas B. Heacock has been appointed to the position of VP of finance, treasurer, and corporate controller and has been appointed as a member of the company’s executive committee.
Conn’s names interim CFO, reports net loss

The Woodlands, Texas – Conn’s Inc. has named VP and chief accounting officer Mark Haley as interim CFO in the wake of the departure of former CFO Brian Taylor. The company also reported a net loss of $3.06 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2015, compared to net income of $24.38 million a year earlier, missing Wall Street expectations.
JDA Software launches innovation lab

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona - JDA Software announced the creation of JDA Labs – a research and development group assembled to drive game-changing innovation. This global team, headquartered in Montreal, will innovate new and existing products and deliver patents, best practices and entirely new products to the market. JDA Labs currently is driving research and innovation around three key areas: data science, user experience and product innovation.
Burlington Stores Q3 loss grown

Florence, N.J. – Burlington Stores Inc. increased its net loss to $34.21 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2014 from $16.86 million in the same period a year earlier amid increased expenses net loss. By the end of fiscal 2014, Burlington Stores expects to have opened 24 new stores and closed two stores, for a total store count of 543.
New pricing model enables Amazon customers to negotiate prices in select categories

SEATTLE - Amazon.com has added a new feature, called ‘Make an Offer,’ that allows customers to negotiate lower prices on thousands of items. The new pricing feature allows customers to offer to buy items at even lower prices. If agreed upon, customers can then purchase the items at a savings from the listed price.
Milestone for Papa John’s as digital, mobile channels account for 50% of sales

LOUISVILLE, Ky.- Papa John’s International has reached a milestone: The chain announced that digital and mobile channels account for more than 50% of its total U.S. sales (delivery and carryout), making it the first in the industry to surpass this milestone.
Saks boosts profits at Hudson’s Bay Co. in Q3

Higher same store sales and its purchase of Saks Inc. last year helped Hudson’s Bay Co. post a smaller quarterly loss in the third quarter.

The company had a $13 million net loss and profits of $116 million, both improvements from the same time last year. Same-store sales rose 1.7% in the third quarter.
ECRM: Retail circular advertising trends, November 2014

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in November 2013 vs. November 2014 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains. Home Depot added an additional Black Friday 2014 circular promoting appliances. Home Depot offered deep Black Friday 2014 discounts on microwaves. Staples increased circular pages by +38%, and featured an attractive “Free Kindle eReader with laptop purchase” and a $99 Asus laptop on the Black Friday 2014 circular front. Walgreens had little change in November circular metrics but CVS cut 9 pages; a 10% decline.
Easy credit proves costly at Conn’s

A nightmare scenario unfolded at Conn’s this week when the company disclosed a huge third quarter loss, the departure of its CFO and withdrew guidance for the coming year amid disturbing delinquency trends in its credit card receivables portfolio.