Data & Analytics

Newell Rubbermaid has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Ignite Holdings from North Castle Partners, a leading private equity firm focused on consumer businesses that promote healthy, active and sustainable living.

Tyco Retail Solutions, a leading provider of retail performance and security solutions, is expanding its contract with the Inditex Group. The fashion retailer will now leverage Tyco’s RFID-based Inventory Intelligence chain-wide.

Tantrum Street has added Roman Kikta, managing partner and founder of Mobility Ventures, to its board, where he will provide strategic guidance for the retail technology startup as it rolls out its Cartwheel Register mobile checkout app and Skip Wallet digital wallet app to the North American market.

Facebook is testing a new “buy” button designed to help businesses drive sales through Facebook in News Feed and on Pages. With this feature, people on desktop or mobile can click the “Buy” call-to-action button on ads and page posts to purchase a product directly from a business, without leaving Facebook.

New York -- Spanish apparel giant Inditex, plans to have radio frequency identification technology in place in its nearly 2,000 Zara stores around the globe by 2016. The technology has already been installed at all of Zara's distribution centers and at more than 700 Zara stores.

New York -- Greg Buzek, president of IHL, which tracks mobile spending and forecasts for the retail and hospitality markets, offers analysis on the recently announced IBM-Apple partnership:
 
If IBM and Apple for retail were people on Facebook right now, the relationship status would say “It’s complicated."

By Jonathan Marek, senior VP, Applied Predictive Technologies

Seattle - Starbucks Coffee Co. is reportedly planning to pilot mobile ordering in an undisclosed U.S. geographic location before the end of 2014. According to Re/Code, the pilot will let consumers place orders through the Starbucks mobile app.

Starbucks definitely intends to roll out mobile ordering chain-wide at some point, and has created a cross-departmental team to work on issues such as how long a hot beverage can stay warm. The retailer expects the program to boost customer loyalty.

Ann Arbor, Mich. – Almost nine-in-10 (88%) of consumers consider speed of delivery to be more important during the holiday season than at any other time of the year. According to the Holiday Fulfillment Report from CFI Group and EBay Enterprise that surveyed more than 500 consumers, 96% of respondents said guaranteed delivery dates are important when choosing which online retailer to purchase from.