Data & Analytics

New York - Elizabeth Arden Inc. has named JuE Wong as president, Elizabeth Arden brand, effective Aug. 3. Wong was previously CEO of StriVectin and Astral Brands and also held several leadership positions for brands including N.V. Perricone, M.D. Cosmeceuticals and Murad.

In addition, Elizabeth Arden has signed a joint venture agreement with Asian prestige beauty distributor Luxasia Ventures Pte Ltd for the Southeast Asia region. Elizabeth Arden expects to commence operations in the first fiscal quarter of fiscal 2016

Apple CEO Tim Cook says the Apple Watch is off to “a great start,” although the company did decline to provide specific sales figures for the watch in its third quarter report on Tuesday.

Hangzhou, China – If idle hands are the tool of the devil, then Chinese e-commerce platform Alibaba Holding Group Inc. has very righteous hands. Alibaba is staying busy with a new plan to protect cloud data and new cloud solutions, as well as partnerships to provide e-commerce logistics and online sourcing.

What’s wrong with America? Plenty, according to the National Retail Federation which just slashed its full year retail sales forecast ahead of second quarter earnings announcements from major retailers next month.

Madrid, Spain – Spanish retail chains including department store retailer El Corte Ingles and supermarket retailer BonPreu are leveraging a new smartphone-based payment solution. The retailers are deploying the digital payment network from Dinube, which uses tokenization, Near Field Communication (NFC) technology and biometric fingerprint security to replace card-based payments.

New York – Even as retail marketing strategies shift in the new digital era, tried-and-true discounts still remain a crucial promotional device. According to new data from marketing personalization provider Sailthru, 97% of retailers use discounting as a pricing strategy.

Goodlettsville, Tenn. – Dollar General is taking a decidedly modern approach to the age-old tradition of back-to-school shopping. The retailer is offering its Fast Way to Save digital coupon program through Aug. 15.

To enroll or upload these coupons, customers may login to their electronic DG Digital Coupon account either through Dollar General’s website or through the DG mobile app

Plano, Texas - Mandy Ginsberg, CEO of test preparation company The Princeton Review and online tutoring company Tutor.com, has been elected to The J.C. Penney Co. Inc. board of directors.