Data & Analytics

Consumer spending in May increased 4.2%, according to the latest SpendTrend report from First Data Corporation, with the retail sector enjoying renewed vigor.

First Data’s SpendTrend tracks same-store point-of-sale data by credit, signature debit, PIN debit, EBT, closed-loop prepaid cards and checks from nearly four million merchant locations serviced by First Data. The spending increase of 4.2%, compared to 4.1% in April.

A lot of change is taking place at Target these days, but one thing the company isn’t messing with is a generous dividend that has helped sustain the value of the stock price.

The Target board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of 52 cents a share this week, a 21% increase from the 43 cents paid last quarter. Target is among an elite group of companies that has paid a dividend for 188 consecutive quarters since it became publicly held in October 1967.

Lowe's continues making advances in retail innovation with its new Innovation Labs and the first concept to come out of the lab — the Lowe's Holoroom.

Lowe's created the lab to build new technology to solve common consumer frustrations while working alongside startups, universities, specialized professionals and other companies.

Chine-based e-commerce company DHgate allows consumers and business to purchase goods directly from Chinese manufacturers and has big growth plans after hiring veterans of Amazon, Google, eBay and Alibaba.

Minneapolis — Target Corp. has named Brad Maiorino as senior VP, chief information security officer, a new position added as the chain overhauls its security department in the wake of its data breach.  Maiorino comes to Target from General Motors,  where he was the company’s chief information security and information technology risk officer.  Prior to that, he was the chief information security officer at General Electric.

Burlington, N.J. — Burlington Stores Inc. had an all-around strong first quarter of fiscal 2014 that included a better-than-expected net income of %11.77 million, up from a net loss of $5.56 million in year-ago period. The retailer expects to open 25 net new stores during the fiscal year, including the opening of one new store and closing of one existing store in the second quarter.

Salt Lake City — Mindshare Technologies, which acquired Empathica in September 2013, announced that the two companies have united under a new corporate entity known as InMoment. InMoment provides a cloud-based customer experience optimization platform, the Experience Hub.

Durango, Calif. — Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (RMCF) is providing PCI compliance and security management services to 280-plus franchised RMCF locations using the Cybera One platform. RMCF sought a comprehensive network security solution to facilitate cost-effective PCI Security Council data security standards (DSS) compliance, as well as a solution that could ease implementation and management challenges and protect brand identity.

Burlington, Mass. — Attune Consulting, a global solutions provider to the fashion and lifestyle industries, today has collaborated with SAP to co-develop the SAP Fashion Management application. SAP Fashion Management is a vertical wholesale, manufacturing, and retail solution designed to bring all business operations onto a single platform powered by SAP Hana to create cross-channel, integrated fashion companies.  

Attune's first customer implementation of SAP Fashion Management will begin in July with Tommy Hilfiger Europe.

Palo Alto, Calif. — Endicia, a provider of e-commerce shipping technologies and services, has released a solution called "Pay-on-Use Returns" exclusively for the United States Postal Service (USPS). Unlike traditional USPS labels, Endicia's Pay-on-Use Returns shipping labels are not pre-paid.