Data & Analytics

Dallas-based apparel company Haggar Clothing has appointed Eve Richey as chief digital officer, reporting to CEO Michael Stitt.

Richey will be responsible for creating a seamless approach to the consumer experience across a variety of shopping channels, including the design, development and implementation of digital-commerce solutions that ensure customer and retailer demands and expectations are exceeded.

The nation’s largest automotive retailer has entered some rarified retailing air after reporting its 33rd consecutive quarter of double digit profit growth during the fourth quarter ended August 30.

The operator of 5,391 stores in the U.S., Mexico and Brazil said its fourth quarter profit increased 7.4% to $373.7 million while earnings per share increased 15.6% to $11.28, compared to prior year profits of $371.2 million, or $9.76 a share.

After launching 3D print in six markets across the country, the UPS Store is expanding 3D printing services to nearly 100 additional locations nationwide.
 
In the past year, the six locations saw demand for 3D print continuing to increase across a broad spectrum of customers.

Recent executive leadership changes at Spanx have set the stage for change and a new phase of growth.

The company has promoted Jill MacRae to EVP, global commerce. MacRae began her career at Spanx in sales, and most recently lead all aspects of product and consumer marketing development as the VP of marketing.

Retailers who are blazing the way forward for grocery-as-service are winning the e-commerce battle.
 
The grocery game is not for the faint of heart. It’s a crowded, complicated category, with players ranging from multi-national supermarket kings to ever-present local mom-and-pop markets. Operational nightmares include supplier management and famously miniscule margins. But it’s grocery’s unique complexities that have protected it from e-commerce.
 
Until now.
 

New York – Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. on Friday closed its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange with its shares up 38% from its I.P.O., closing at $93.89.

The stock opened for trade on Friday at $92.70 shortly, a 36% jump above its initial public offering price of $68 a share. More than 100 million shares changed hands in composite trading in the first 10 minutes of trading.

Tel Aviv, Israel - Default image formats, used by up to 95% of all websites, do not deliver the highest level of user satisfaction. According to a new study of moment-by-moment emotional responses in universal facial expressions of more than 250 participants conducted by NeuroStrata on behalf of application delivery/security provider Radware, 65% of participants have felt frustrated by images taking too long to load.

San Jose, Calif. – PayPal has released a version of its PayPal Here mobile payment card acceptance app and reader that is compliant with most major Android tablets. The PayPal Here service itself had previously been available for Android smartphones, but not tablets.

The release primarily allows users of tablet-sized Android devices to now use PayPal Here to accept card payments. There are no major new features.

Boston – Lifecycle marketing technology provider QuickPivot has selected Datawatch to power the advanced reporting capabilities in a new hosted campaign management platform. QuickPivot offers a cross-channel marketing platform and marketing services that provide lead generation and nurturing, as well as closed sale, upsell and cross-sell.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – A $400 million loan Eddie Lampert, the CEO and largest shareholder of Sears Holdings Corp., is making to Sears this month reportedly is only enough to last the struggling retailer for three months. According to Bloomberg, global ratings agency Fitch Ratings is projecting that Sears will need $4 billion in capital to avoid running out of cash altogether in 2016.