Data & Analytics

Supervalu has suffered a data breach that may have resulted in theft of customer payment card data. The stolen information may include account numbers, and in some cases also the expiration date, other numerical information and/or the cardholder’s name.

Office Depot is leveraging a new back-to-school shopping trend report to drive traffic to its stores this back-to-school season.

The survey, commissioned by Office Depot, reports the manner in which parents and students approach back-to-school shopping, including who in the family has the most influence over purchasing decisions and whether shoppers stick to a provided classroom list or add personalized items to their school supplies.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group met or exceeded several of its corporate social responsibility goals over the past year, according to the 2014 report the company released Friday.
 
One of the goals it reports meeting was reducing its use of PET, a polymer used in beverage bottles. DPS conserved about 60.7 million pounds since 2007 by redesigning packaging and upgrading almost 70,000 older-model coolers and vending machines.

Los Angeles - The Canadian market offers an opportunity for U.S. retailers to expand and to gain experience operating in an international market. According to a new study from market research firm IbisWorld, the U.S. retail segment best suited for expansion into Canada is department stores, followed by men’s clothing stores.

Seattle -- Just two weeks after announcing its $350-million acquisition of men’s personalized clothing service Trunk Club, Nordstrom Inc. reported second-quarter earnings and sales in line with Wall Street projections.

Profit for the quarter was flat at $183 million, and sales climbed 6.2% to $3.3 billion, from $3.1 billion last year. Same-store sales rose a respectable 3.3%.

Plano, Texas – Pizza Hut Inc. is deploying energy management systems from Entouch Controls at 500 corporate stores. The company plans to recommend the Entouch technology to its 5,800 franchised stores, as well.

Roanoke, Va. -- Advance Auto Parts beat Wall Street projections with a 19% profit increase in the second quarter – from $116.9 million last year to $139.5 million.

The acquisition of General Parts drove sales up 52%, to $2.35 billion, from $1.55 billion in the same quarter last year. Wall Street anticipated $2.32 billion.

"We remain on pace against our base business expectations, integration milestones and with our financial performance,” said Advance CEO Darren Jackson.

Menomonee Falls, Wis. – Kohl’s Corp. had a relatively flat second quarter of fiscal 2014 compared to the same period the previous year. Net income slightly rose to $232 million from $231 million, while sales fell 1% to $4.24 billion from $4.28 billion.

Same-store sales dropped 1.1%, although Kohl’s said they turned positive in July. Kohl’s plans to open four new stores in fall 2014, including one store which was temporarily closed in the first quarter for a complete re-build.

Dallas – Net loss at specialty jewelry retailer DSGE Inc. roughly tripled to $4.45 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2014 from $1.12 million in the same period a year earlier. Writeoffs related to the closure of DSGE’s Southern Bullion banner drove the net loss increase.

Framingham, Mass. - Staples Advantage, the business-to-business division of Staples, has launched a Technology Recycling Service. The program, offered in partnership with Electronic Recyclers International Inc. (ERI) allows businesses of all sizes to recycle large volumes of electronics in a secure manner.

Staples Advantage’s new program allows businesses to recycle equipment – from cell phones and keyboards to telecom equipment and multi-function devices – via three steps:

1. Order recycling boxes online.