Data & Analytics

New York – A $473 million charge resulting from arbitration with The Swatch Group in December 2013 resulted in Tiffany & Co. reporting a net loss of $104 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013. Tiffany reported net earnings of $180 million in the year-ago period.

Despite having comparable store sales decreases in the fourth quarter and fiscal year, Books-A-Million saw core book business improve, driven by what president and CEO Terrance G. Finley  called a strong lineup of new titles.

Revenues for the 13-week period ended Feb. 1 decreased 3.7% to $157.9 million, compared with revenues of $163.9 million in the 14-week year-earlier period. Comparable store sales for the quarter which include comparable 13-week periods this year and last year declined 1.8%, compared with the same period last year.

Severe winter weather has adversely affected many retailers in the fourth quarter, but not Burlington Stores, which saw comparable store sales increase 4% and net sales increase 1.3% to $1.3 billion for the period ended Feb. 1.

Mobile engagement solutions provider Scanbuy introduced a new version of its flagship platform the company contends is fundamentally altering the way marketers approach mobile campaigns.

Scanbuy introduced an all new version of its ScanLife Mobile Engagement Platform to enable enhanced interactions between brands and consumers through QR codes, Microsoft Tag, NFC, short URLs and other mobile triggers in their everyday surroundings, such as stores and restaurants, products and print advertising.

Trace One, a product lifecycle management company focused on private label, named Mark Martini to its executive team.

Martini, a veteran CPG executive, will lead Trace One’s sales and customer development efforts in North America. Martini has spent 23 years in the CPG world working for companies such as Bristol-Myers Squibb, Catalina Marketing, DemandTec and Symphony IRI Group. Trace One said Martini will leverage his knowledge of consumer demand, shopper insights, price and trade optimization and other go-to-market strategies in his new role as vp of North America.

Borderfree is a digital company focused on helping retailers sell to anyone anywhere and last Friday the company sold itself to investor’s by completing an initial public stock offering.

The company priced its offering of five million shares at $16 and enjoyed a 32% pop at the open when shares began trading at $21. The upward momentum proved to be unsustainable and by the close shares had receded to $20, registering a still respectable first day gain of 25%.

Tiffany & Co. reported a net loss of $104 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013 thanks to a $473 million charge resulting from arbitration with The Swatch Group Dec. 2013.

The company reported net sales for the quarter of $1.3 billion, up 5% from $1.23 billion last year. Same-store sales for the quarter increased 6%.

New York – For many retailers, it may be time to consider investing in a new POS system. According to a new report from touch-screen POS terminal and peripheral vendor Posiflex Technologies Inc., fingerprint biometric technology provider Digital Persona Inc., and Chain Store Age, “How Do You Know If It’s Time to Upgrade Your POS System?,” rapid advances in omni-channel technology in the past several years have radically changed the nature of POS.

Shelton, Conn. – Executive consumers seek easier ordering when they shop online. According to a survey of 50 high-level executives who attended the Microsoft Dynamics Convergence Conference March 4-7 by EDI and e-commerce integrator Logicbroker, nearly three-quarters (72%) of respondents said that ease of ordering is the most important part of the online ordering process.

One-third (33%) said that better communication is the area that e-commerce companies have the most potential to improve.

Eden Prairie, Minn. – Supervalu plans for a streamlined independent business organization. As part of the new structure, Supervalu’s independent business will consolidate from three regions to two regions, forming new East and West teams.

The new East and West independent business regions will be located in Mechanicsville, Va. and Hopkins, Minn. To lead the new organizations, Supervalu has named Kevin Kemp president of the East region and Bill Chew president of the West region.