Data & Analytics

Columbus, Ohio -- Express Inc. said on Thursday that its fiscal first-quarter profit fell to $5.08 million, from $32.4 million a year earlier. The company also announced it will close approximately 50 stores during the next 36 months, primarily at the end of their leases, even as it ramps up expansion of its of its new outlet-store concept. Express debuted its outlet format this past April.

Washington, D.C. -- Online shopping is showing rapid growth compared to the rest of the retail trade sector, with the number of establishments growing 27.4% between 2011 and 2012, according to new U.S. Census Bureau statistics released today. Drawn from County Business Patterns: 2012, the new data provides the only detailed annual information on the number of establishments, employees and payroll for nearly 1,200 industries at the national, state and county levels.

Los Angeles – Guess on Thursday reported a first-quarter net loss of $2.1 million, compared with net earnings of $9.9 million in the year-ago period, as sales fell in North America and Europe.

"First quarter earnings results were slightly better than our expectations,” said Paul Marciano, CEO. “We delivered revenues within the range of our guidance and managed our expenses tightly.”

Sales fell 4.8% at $522.5 million, compared with $548.9 million in the prior year.

New York – Verizon Enterprise Solutions has recently introduced a location-based service that will allow retail organizations to offer real-time benefits to their customers, such as proximity-based specials and fraud detection. Verizon Location Data Services, powered by Locaid, is available now to enterprise retail clients in the U.S.

Research Triangle Park, N.C. - Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions is releasing the TCxGravity Link architecture. TCxGravity Link enables point of commerce, supporting retail from virtually any location and any device.

Hamilton, Bermuda -- It’s official: Signet Jewelers Ltd. has completed its acquisition of Zale Corporation for $21 per share in cash and a total consideration of $1.46 billion. Zale shareholders approved the acquisition by its longtime rival on May 29.

With the deal completed, Signet now operates over 3,600 locations under the retail banners of Kay, Jared, and Zales in the United States; H.Samuel and Ernest Jones in the United Kingdom; and People's in Canada. Signet also now operates kiosks in the United States under the Piercing Pagoda banner.

Canton, Mass. – The costs of converting its Casual Male XL banner to the DXL banner helped Destination XL swing to a net loss in the first quarter of fiscal 2014. The retailer reported a net loss of $3.5 million, compared to net income of $1 million last year.

For the quarter, total sales were $96.8 million, up 3% from $94 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2013. The increase in total sales was primarily due to an increase in same-store sales of 3.4%

New York -- Teen retailer Delia’s announced that its CFO, David Dick, has resigned. He will remain with the company through Aug. 1.

Yonkers, N.Y. – Sixty-two percent of U.S. online consumers have done nothing to protect their privacy on the Internet. According to a recent national Consumer Reports survey of 3,110 adults, one-in-seven online consumers were notified that their personal data had been breached in 2013, a 56% increase from 2012, and a projected 11.2 million people fell for e-mail phishing scams, up 22% from the previous year.

Shelton, Conn. - Nxt-ID Inc., a biometric authentication company focused on the m-commerce market, is releasing its next generation smart wallet, Wocket. The Wocket works anywhere credit cards are accepted and only works with the user’s biometric stamp of approval.

Credit, debit, ATM, loyalty, gift, ID, membership, insurance, ticket, emergency, medical, business, contacts, coupon, and virtually any card can be protected on Wocket. More than 10,000 cards, records, coupons, etc. and 100 voice commands can also be stored on Wocket.