Data & Analytics

Hers may not be a household name among Walmart suppliers, but few of the retailer’s executives have as much of an impact on the daily lives of trading partners as Suja Chandrasekaran.

As Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Walmart, Chandrasekaran leads the technology and data transformation underway at Walmart that is referred to as Retail Link 2.0. The information sharing system known as Retail Link was pioneered by Walmart more than two decades ago and today is used extensively by suppliers for all manner of supply chain applications.

Mooresville, N.C. – Lowe’s is taking its Iris smart home program and trying to make it even smarter, with help from connected home platform provider Icontrol Networks. Starting in early 2015, many Lowe's Iris smart home devices will be certified through Icontrol's OpenHome Developer Program, allowing these devices to work seamlessly with Icontrol-powered solutions.

Karenann Terrell, Walmart’s Chief Information Officer, is among a distinguished group of female executives singled out by Retailing Today sister publication Chain Store Age as The Top 10 Women in Tech.

New York – Aeropostale did not deliver strong holiday sales in 2014. Total net sales for the nine-week period ended Jan. 3, 2015 decreased 11% to $507.8 million, down 11% from $572 million in the 2013 holiday season

Same-store sales, including the e-commerce channel, decreased 9%. The company said profit margins during the holiday period were higher than expected and same-store sales were within original guidance for the quarter.
 

Stage Stores is reporting a strong holiday sales season despite predictions from the company’s CEO that December would be very challenging for apparel retailers.

The parent company of Beall’s, Goody’s and other stores reported an increase in same store sales of 6.5% for the nine week period ending Jan. 3.

Matthews, N.C. – Higher sales of discounted, low-margin items did not necessarily add up to a happy holiday season for Family Dollar Stores Inc. The company missed Wall Street expectations for both net income and net sales during the first quarter of fiscal 2015, even as Dollar Tree and Family Dollar both continue making preparations for a multi-billion-dollar takeover this year.

It was a happy holiday from a sales standpoint at Steinmart with the company reporting a 5.8 percent same store sales increase for December.

The 5.8 percent comp increase for the December period ended Jan. 3 follows a 4.8 percent gain in November and a 4.5 percent increase during the prior December.

This is the age of the empowered consumer. Energized by the rapidly accelerating global growth of mobile devices, shoppers now have immediate access to data on products, prices and competitive services. In addition to shifting the balance of power away from retailers and manufacturers, the spread of information and the growth of technologically sophisticated pure-play retailers have contributed to rapidly rising expectations about just how personalized and participatory the shopping experience can be.