Data & Analytics

New York -- With a late Thanksgiving and the shortest holiday shopping season in years, consumers report they are starting their holiday shopping sooner and spending more this year, according to the latest American Express Spending & Saving Tracker research. The report is more optimistic than some other holiday forecasts.

Dallas – Four-in-10 (43%) of U.S. smartphone users purchased a good via their device in the last month. The new Parks Associates study “Mobile Commerce: Keys to Mass Adoption” also shows that 54% of Target shoppers have used their smartphone to make an in-store purchase in the last month, compared to 38% of Wal-Mart customers.

New York -- Rent the Runway, the popular online retailer specializing in rentals of designer dresses and accessories, has entered into its first brick-and-mortar partnership, opening a 1,400-sq.-ft. showroom in the Henri Bendel Fifth Avenue flagship store in Manhattan.

Walmart said its worldwide capital expenditure budget for the 2014 will range between $11.8 billion and $12.8 billion, roughly $200 million less than the company expects to spend during the current year, even as it adds more selling space.

Phoenix – PetSmart Inc. has issued guidance for fiscal year 2013 for total sales growth of 3%-4%, as well as same-store sales growth of 3%-4%, compared to the prior fiscal year. PetSmart also slightly downgraded previous same-store sales guidance for the third quarter of fiscal 2013 to 2.2%-2.5%, from previously issued guidance of 3%-4%.

Scanbuy, a leading mobile engagement solutions provider, has released its quarterly trend report showing that it processed nearly 24 million mobile barcode and NFC scans in the third quarter this year, demonstrating continuing strong growth in usage and interest by mobile consumers.

Scanbuy’s trend reports analyze the traffic on the ScanLife mobile app. Highlights include:

Minneapolis – Supervalu Inc. beat Wall Street estimates with second quarter fiscal 2014 net earnings of $40 million, compared to a $111 million loss in the year-ago period.

The supermarket operator reported net sales of $3.95 billion, up 0.2% from $3.94 billion last year.

Same-store sales results varied by banner. Same-store sales in the Save-A-Lot network were negative 0.3, while same-store sales for corporate stores within the Save-A-Lot network were positive 4.6% and were negative 0.9% in the Retail Food segment.

New York -- Twitter has hired J.J. Hirschle, who directed media and entertainment advertising at Google, as its head of retail, according to various media reports. The hire comes as the online messaging giants works to expand its business ahead of its initial public offering. Hirschle will be responsible for the team selling advertising products to retail companies.

Hirschle is to start on Oct. 28, the same day Twitter is expected to launch its investor roadshow. Twitter announced at the beginning of October that it plans to go public.