Data & Analytics

Birmingham, Ala. – Net income and sales declined at Hibbett Sports Inc. during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013. Net income dropped 13% from $19.6 million in the fourth quarter of the prior fiscal year to $16.4 million, while net sales inched upward 0.2% to $217.8 million from $217.4 million.

Same-store sales rose 1.7% during the quarter. Hibbett Sports cited slowing sales in January due to inclement weather and a less favorable sales impact from the national college football championship game as impacting net income.

Honolulu -- Foodland Super Market Ltd recently launched a new mobile app for both iPhone and Android. The app, built in partnership with mobile commerce provider DoubleBeam, debuted on Jan. 29 and has more than 19,000 downloads in the first three weeks.

The Foodland app was designed to make the grocery shopping experience more convenient and save customers time and money. Foodland customers can load their Maika`i loyalty cards to their mobile devices, view their Maika`i point balances and track their progress toward earning My

Milwaukee – Roundy’s Supermarkets has selected Symphony EYC Customer Insights behavioral insights platform and expertise to enable customer-centric business processes. With Symphony EYC, Roundy's will gain and leverage consumer insights to optimize product selection, customer communication and other critical functions across all Roundy's grocery stores and pharmacies throughout the Midwest.

Cincinnati – Intelligrated is launching the Intelligrated OLS shuttle system, an automated storage and retrieval solution designed to provide quick access to individual cartons, totes and trays in a minimal footprint for high-volume distribution, fulfillment and manufacturing environments.

When preventing the type of data breaches that have recently gotten the names of several major retailers in the news for all the wrong reasons comes up, the discussion focuses almost exclusively on what type of technology should be employed to prevent them. IT is certainly a cornerstone of any retailer’s data security defense, but as explained in a Tech Boot Camp session at Chain Store Age’s 50th annual SPECS conference, a dose of common sense also goes a long way toward preventing unwanted visitors from entering your company’s network.

Leading online cash back shopping platform Ebates has acquired Extrabux, a free comparison-shopping website where consumers discover the best prices, find coupons and earn cash back on their online purchases.

As a result, the two companies have a growing membership base in China and have launched Ebates.cn.

Lands' End will be back on its own as a publicly traded company following a formal announcement by parent company Sears Holdings to spin off the well-known apparel brand.

The move follows years of speculation that Sears would divest the brand, which it acquired in May 2002 for $62 a share. At the time, Lands' End was a publicly traded company with revenues of nearly $1.6 billion, profits of $67 million and earnings per share of $2.23. The $62 a share Sears paid 12 years ago represented a 21.5% premium over the closing pricing of $51.02 prior to the announcement of the deal.

Retailers are not giving shoppers the omnichannel experience they desire, according to new research from Accenture and Hybris, creating a huge opportunity for those able to successfully execute against elevated digital expectations.

Foodland Super Market, Hawaii's largest locally owned and operated grocery retailer, recently launched a mobile app for both iPhone and Android. The app, built in partnership with mobile commerce provider DoubleBeam, was rolled out Jan. 29 and has seen a tremendous customer response with more than 19,000 downloads in the first three weeks.

Dutch physicist Niels Bohr wasn’t talking about the retail industry when he said, “prediction is very difficult, especially about the future,” but the comment couldn’t be more relevant given the volatility facing the retail industry.

The idea of customer purchases being limited to brick-and-mortar stores faded long ago. Digital technologies, such as the Internet and mobile devices, and evolving shopping channels have made it difficult to distinguish what is and is not a “store.”