Data & Analytics

Bentonville, Ark. –- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has reportedly apologized for offering Halloween outfits labeled as “fat girl” costumes on its e-commerce site. According to Bloomberg, Wal-Mart issued the apology after receiving social media criticism from offended consumers.  

By Murali Nadarajah, Xchanging Malaysia   Consumers can purchase virtually anything they want anytime from anywhere, from the Internet to social media to mobile devices to good old brick-and-mortar stores. As a result of today’s omnichannel approach to retail, chain stores now have access to a massive collection of customer data that hasn’t existed until recently.  

Time is running out for entries into this year's Crash the Super Bowl contest by PepsiCo’s Doritos brand.  From now until November 9, fans from participating countries around the world can submit their 30-second homemade ads celebrating their love of Doritos tortilla chips. 

Sears and Amazon.com both recently came under fire for allowing rings decorated with the Nazi swastika symbol to be posted for sale on their third-party seller sites. While both retailers quickly pulled the items down and issued public apologies, they received a large amount of negative publicity and surely damaged their brand image with many offended customers, perhaps to the point of permanently losing some of them.

Redwood Shores, Calif. -- Cosmetics retailer Ultra Beauty has implemented Oracle Commerce to support growing e-commerce sales and deliver a consistent consumer experience across its more than 696 retail locations as well as mobile, web, guest services, and direct mail channels.  

Washington, D.C. –- Nearly eight in 10 (79%) retailers surveyed will set their standard shipping deadlines for guaranteed Christmas delivery to expire at least a week before the holiday, compared to 74% who said in the 2013 holiday season. In addition, according to Shop.org’s EHoliday survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, approximately one in five (21%) will set those deadlines to expire Dec. 19 or later, compared to more than one-quarter who said so last year (25%).

Washington, D.C. –- Nearly eight in 10 (79%) retailers surveyed will set their standard shipping deadlines for guaranteed Christmas delivery to expire at least a week before the holiday, compared to 74% who said in the 2013 holiday season. In addition, according to Shop.org’s EHoliday survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, approximately one in five (21%) will set those deadlines to expire Dec. 19 or later, compared to more than one-quarter who said so last year (25%).  

Woonsocket, R.I. –- CVS Health Corp. and Rite Aid. Corp., which have both used the near-field communication (NFC) technology that supports Apple Pay, have disabled their NFC payment systems to block Apple Pay from working in their stores. 

 

San Francisco -- DHgate, an e-commerce marketplace focused on cross-border trade of Chinese goods, will provide its U.S. buyers with a consumer-rated protection plan and repair service through SquareTrade. The partnership makes SquareTrade protection plans immediately available for cell phones, tablets, computers, MP3/4 players, home audio/video and other consumer electronics products.   

By David Barach, Market6