Data & Analytics

Charlotte, N.C. -- Belk has named Dorlisa Flur to the newly created position of EVP omni-channel, reporting to John Belk, president and chief operating officer.

Flur joins Belk after eight years at Family Dollar Stores, most recently as vice chair, strategy and chief administrative officer. Prior roles included chief merchandising officer and the EVP strategy and marketing. Prior to Family Dollar Stores, Flur spent her professional career at management consulting firm McKinsey and Company.

Chicago -- National retail sales will increase 3.2% and retail foot traffic will increase 3.5% for the first quarter of 2013 when compared to the same period last year, according to ShopperTrak, a leading counter of retail foot traffic.

Washington -- Retail sales ticked up in January as consumers adjusted their spending in response to the increase in payroll taxes and rise in gasoline and energy prices. According to the National Retail Federation, January retail sales (excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants) increased 0.3% seasonally adjusted from December and increased 5.4% unadjusted year-over-year.

New York -- The Jones Group Inc. reported a loss of $80.3 million for the three months through Dec. 31, compared with a loss of $21.1 million a year earlier. The company said that marking down the value of some assets widened its loss.
 
Revenue for the fourth quarter rose 8.8% to $971.9 million, better than the $955.3 million Wall Street was expecting.

For the year, Jones Group lost $56.1 million, versus a profit of $50.7 million in 2011. Annual revenue rose to $3.8 billion from $3.79 billion.

Chicago -- Extended store hours Thanksgiving weekend promotions were the least successful holiday marketing tactics, according to a survey of retail CFOs by BDO USA. The also report found that, following uneven sales results in December and January, the executives are moderating their expectations for 2013, projecting a 3.2% increase in total store sales, down from last year’s expected 4.5% increase.

Stamford, Conn. -- GE Capital Retail Bank, a consumer lending unit of General Electric Company (GE), has renewed its private label credit card program with J.C. Penney Co.

The JCP consumer card program provides credit to millions of consumers who shop at more than 1,100 J.C. Penney stores in communities across the United States and Puerto Rico, as well as online at JCP.com.

New York -- J. C. Penney Co boosted its borrowing capacity under a bank credit facility by $100 million to $1.85 billion and expanded an option to borrow more at a later date.  

"As we enter the second year of our transformation, today's announcement reflects the confidence of our banking group in our long-term strategy and further strengthens our liquidity position as we continue to execute our plan," J.C. Penny CFO Ken Hannah said in a statement.

Palo Alto, Calif. -- The shopping app Shopkick on Wednesday announced that Nielsen ranked Shopkick No. 34 out of approximately 1 million apps in December 2012. While still trailing giants like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter overall, Shopkick dominated the shopping category during the holiday season, with more frequent and prolonged usage than all physical retailers' own apps including Starbucks, Walmart, Walgreens, Kroger and Safeway, the app developer noted.