Data & Analytics

Baltimore - Under Armour has opened its first-ever digital headquarters, in downtown Austin, Texas. The 35,000-plus-sq.-ft. “Connected Fitness” center employs more than 100 engineers, data scientists, designers, and product innovators in digital health, fitness, and sports, and is expected to grow substantially by the end of the year. It is the sporting goods company’s facility solely dedicated to digital innovation.

Arlington, Va. -- Data-driven energy management systems provider GridPoint announced that Boddie-Noell Enterprises, the largest Hardee’s franchise operator in the United States, has deployed GridPoint’s state-of-the-art solution at a majority of its 334 restaurants, with plans to deploy to the remaining sites in 2015 and beyond.

Chicago – A majority (82%) of shoppers look for coupons before grocery shopping, according to the Market Track 2015 Shopper Insight Survey. And 61% of grocery shoppers look for both print and digital coupons.

In contrast, only 33% look for print coupons. Other findings include that nearly 80% of shoppers will switch where they shop if prices are lower elsewhere, and 75% will switch the brand they buy if a different brand is on sale.

Houston – Salata, a custom salad and salad wrap restaurant eatery, will open a 26,000-sq.-ft corporate complex in West Houston. Construction on the facility began in January and completion is estimated for summer 2015.

The headquarters will house offices for the chain's corporate employees, a training restaurant for franchisees and managers and a production facility. It will also feature a 2,500-sq.-ft. restaurant open to the public during regular lunch hours, which will also serve as a test kitchen and training restaurant.

Sephora is looking to drive faster digital growth by leveraging a cloud-based prepaid commerce program.

The company is working with CashStar to improve and differentiate its seamless omnichannel commerce strategy.

Increased sales at Famous Footwear and the divestiture of its Shoes.com website helped Brown Shoe increase profits in the fourth quarter.

Brown Shoe Company reported that same store sales increased 4%, while profit was $16.2 million, or 37 cents a share, for the fourth quarter that ended Jan. 31, up from $6.2 million a year earlier. Adjusted earnings totaled $9 million in the quarter, or 20 cents a share, up from $6.2 million a share, or 14 cents a share, a year earlier. Net sales rose 2.6 percent in the quarter to $615.4 million.

Bordeaux, France - Bébé 9, a subsidiary of the France Maternité group, has selected Raymark's end-to-end suite of retail enterprise solutions for deployment in its 140 stores. Specifically, Bébé 9 is rolling out Raymark as its partner for an omnichannel technology overhaul aimed at centralizing operations, improving efficiency and cultivating customer relationships across e-commerce, social media and other channels.

Minneapolis – Target Corp. laid off 1,700 mostly headquarters employees on Tuesday and is eliminating 1,400 open positions. According to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, Target notified employees of the workforce reduction in an email.

The cuts are part of a two-year, $2 billion corporate restructuring. Roughly 13% of the jobs in Target’s Minneapolis workforce will be eliminated, the report noted.