Data & Analytics

Bentonville now has something in common with Buenos Aires, Seoul, Bangalore and Istanbul.

Walmart’s home town is now home to Tyco Retail Solutions’ newest Retail Experience Center, a 5,000-sq.-ft. facility designed to showcase the capabilities of a global company best known for its broad range of security and inventory management solutions.

Sherwin-Williams is launching a new omnichannel tool designed to radically simplify how customers pick a paint color.

ColorSnap is a comprehensive system with an in-store display that helps customers select colors -- in 60% less time than with the previous display, according to in-store testing conducted by Sherwin-Williams. ColorSnap will also be available for iPhone, iPad, Android and online, allowing customers to scan each take-home color chip for instant access to inspirational room scenes.

An altered retail landscape and new consumer are remaking the shopper journey and path-to-purchase. Here are 10 tactics to improve the shopper experience that every retailer needs to know:

1. Bridge the online to offline experience: Expectations are high; online shoppers seek a personalized and efficient experience. Customers now expect price consistency across channels, the ability to buy online and pick up or return in store and a range of payment options.

DSW says its investments in becoming a more “customer-centric” company are paying off, as the retailer reported sales and earnings growth in the second quarter.

Minneapolis – For the second quarter in a row, Best Buy Co. Inc. beat Wall Street expectations for profit and revenue with large-screen TVs and mobile phones providing a major boost to its results.

Best Buy reported net income of $164 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2016, up 12% from $146 million the same period the previous fiscal year.

Cambridge, Mass. – It’s not only middle-aged women that like to browse retail stores.

Bucking demographic stereotypes that suggest men and millennials are more tech-oriented, it turns out both groups are more likely than other consumer groups to browse in-store.

At least that’s according to a new study from Adroit Digital, “Marketing to Millennials,” which found that 57% of millennials do the majority of their retail browsing in-store, close to the 61% of consumers 35 and older who are in-store browsers.

Chicago -- The nation’s finance chiefs have a lot on their minds these days, from uncertainty in the U.S. economy to cybersecurity to regulatory and compliance issues. Another big concern: Congressional dysfunction around tax reform.

Loft and Express are the strongest online players in contemporary apparel, with less promotional activity and strong assortments, according to a report analyzing key contemporary players and year-over-year changes by fashion trendsetting and analysis firm WGSN. On the other hand, Anthropologie and J. Crew lack a cohesive merchandising and pricing strategy.

The report is based on data is sourced from the WGSN INStock analytics platform, which monitors the e-commerce catalogues of 12,000 brands and retailers, 400 product categories and 40 million SKUs.