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

Amazon Home Services has expanded the number of providers and the services they offer in 15 metropolitan areas, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Miami, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Jose and Washington, D.C.

The move adds to existing availability in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. Amazon Home Services now includes over 15 million unique services across more than 900 professional services, the Seattle-based company said.

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.

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.

Hangzhou, China - Alibaba.com is moving to put concerns about the reliability of its suppliers to rest. The global e-commerce platform is upgrading its trade assurance program to give small-to-mid-sized businesses peace of mind when buying from overseas suppliers.

Austin, Texas – Parents are always telling their school-aged children that character is key, and they also apply a version of that maxim to back-to-school shopping. According to a recent survey by RetailMeNot, parents say their kids want school supplies featuring popular characters from films and TV shows.

Respondents indicated their children want "Minions"-themed school supplies the most (33%) followed by "Jurassic World" (31%), "SpongeBob" (24%) and "Star Wars" (22%).

Hoboken, N.J. – A new rival to Amazon.com has officially taken flight. Jet.com, a membership-based e-commerce platform that promises to beat Amazon Prime prices using “profit-free pricing,” launched as of July 21.

Jet says it sells millions of items, in sizes ranging from small to bulk. The site is specifically designed to compete with the Amazon Prime paid loyalty service, charging $49.99 for an annual membership fee (although it is currently offering an introductory free three-month trial).