Data & Analytics

Framingham, Mass. – There are a lot of things parents look for when doing back-to-school shopping, but as Randy Newman once sang, it’s money that matters.

A new online survey of parents of children ages 8-18, commissioned by Staples and conducted by Harris Poll, finds that price is the top consideration for 86% of these parents when buying school supplies.   

Highlights of Staples 2015’ Back-to-School Parents Survey include:

Express Inc. has named a new CFO, and the retailer did not look far to fill the role.

Today, nearly half of the world’s payment cards are EMV-enabled, meaning that the cards are embedded with special computer chips that help reduce counterfeit card fraud. The cards also protect retailers and consumers against losses caused by this fraud. The prevalence of EMV cards will only continue to increase with the upcoming liability shift in the U.S. in October, when merchants that are not EMV-compliant will be held liable for financial losses incurred from counterfeit card fraud.

Apple's newest store in New York City is located in one of its most diverse burroughs and store employees will be fluent in a dozen languages.

According to the New York Daily News, Apple is opening the store on July 11 in the Queens Center mall located in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens.

"We are really excited to bring our eighth store in NYC to Queens," Jason Barlia, market director at Apple Retail, told the Daily News. "When we saw this location it made a lot of sense."

Westborough, Mass. – Keeping up the store is never an easy prospect, especially when you operate hundreds of stores with POS applications and peripherals from multiple vendors. To ensure store upkeep, at least from a hardware perspective, BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. has selected Toshiba TCxCare to manage and be the single point of contact for “wall to wall” maintenance services at its 200 stores.

New York -- High-end luggage and accessories Tumi has selected LED lamps from Solais Lighting, a division of PowerSecure International, has its lighting product of record. Tumi has specified Solais’ Xi20 and Xi24 PAR LEDs featuring the company’s VioLight color-enhancing technology.

Tumi recently installed the LEDs in its store in New York City’s Rockefeller Center.
 

Hartland, Wis. – Battery, lightbulb and smartphone/tablet repair franchise Batteries Plus Bulbs is expanding its omnichannel experience — and that includes its physical store portfolio.

The company has launched a new e-commerce site, with a new and improved infrastructure, that ties its online presence more tightly to its nationwide network of more than 650 stores. And as part of its omnichannel growth strategy, Batteries Plus Bulbs plans to open 50 new locations across the country in 2015.

Bengalaru, India – Bruce Springsteen fans will be delighted by the new store Nike Inc. is opening in Bengalaru, India. Aimed at customers who are “born to run,” the 7,355-sq.-ft., three-level store, Nike’s largest in India, places a special emphasis on the sport of running.