Data & Analytics

Retail design and brand strategy firm Interbrand Design Forum has added nine new associates as business continues to grow with key retail and manufacturing clients.
 
Allen McCormick has been named executive director, overseeing relationships with key client partners. Becky Lau was hired as senior consultant, strategy and analytics. Aaron Stancik is also new to the Strategy & Analytics group where he will serve as a senior consultant working on projects for Michael Hill and FedEx.

Digital media company Specific Media and Nielsen have joined forces to offer a new platform called Retail Connect designed to address what the firms regard as a gap between offline and online advertising.

According to Specific Media, the Retail Connect platform will allow for more effective advertising for brands as well as consumers because it leverages Nielsen’s Buyer Insights aggregate data about in-store consumption habits and online behaviors to inform an optimized and efficient approach to online advertising.

New York -- Tractor Supply CEO Greg Sandfort outlined the company's online strategy, borrowing phrases from other multichannel retailers.

“We have to have our site geared to giving customers the options for any way they like to engage with us,” Sandfort said during the recent Goldman Sachs investor conference.

The Halston brand is going digital with the launch of its flagship e-commerce site in more than 80 countries today, including the U.S. and Canada. The vertical e-commerce site will feature Halston Heritage apparel and accessories.

The brand is also expanding its physical presence, with plans to expand to more than 20 locations by yearend.

New York -- UGG Australia will launch UGG by You, an online customization tool putting customers in control of the design process and transforming a visit to the retailer’s website from a shopping trip to a creative experience.

The customization tool allows consumers to mix and match an array of color schemes on two classic styles, the UGG Classic Short sheepskin boot and its Fluff Flip Flop, through a user-friendly design tool. There are over 11,000 color, outsole and trim combinations possible through the footwear personalization tool.

Seattle – Starbucks is opening a new Evolution Fresh juicery in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., that the retailer says will quadruple its production of cold-pressed, never-heated juice. The $70 million, 264,000-sq.-ft. facility features advanced technology such as High Pressure Processing (HPP) machines.

Boston – College students most frequently eat snack foods in the afternoon and are frequently replacing meals with snacks. A new study from marketing agency Fluent shows that 75% of college students replace meals with snacks and afternoon snacking is three times more popular than morning or late night snacking.

Other notable findings of the survey college students age 18-25 include:

San Francisco - Walk-by conversion and in-store engagements among U.S., consumers slipped in September compared to August as consumers became more cautious and less compelled to shop after back-to-school spending. In-store analytics technology vendor Euclid’s U.S. Retail Benchmarks for September 2013, based on 20 million domestic shopping sessions, suggest September same-store and total store sales may be sluggish for many retailers.

Specific findings include: