Data & Analytics

Plano, Texas — J. C. Penney Company, Inc. has named Ed Record executive VP and CFO, effective March 24. He will succeed Ken Hannah, who will remain CFO through that date to ensure a smooth transition.

As CFO, Record will be responsible for the financial operations of the company. He will report to Myron E. (Mike) Ullman III, CEO of J.C. Penney, and join the company`s executive board.

Chicago — L.L. Bean has been ranked number one in online customer experience. The E-tailing Group 2013 Customer Experience Index, based on a mystery shopping study conducted during the fourth quarter of 2013, awarded L.L. Bean a top score of 88.75, followed by HSN at 87.25.

Other retailers scoring higher than 80 included Office Depot, Overstock, Amazon, Wal-Mart, Sears, Abt, Target, and Dick’s Sporting Goods. Average score in 2013 was 71.06, up from 69.3 in 2012. Repeat winners from 2012 included Amazon and Office Depot.

Sidney, Neb. — Net income and revenue increased at Cabela’s during the fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2013. For the quarter, net income rose 18% year-over-year to $80.1 million from $68 million, and for the year grew 29% to $224.4 million from $173.5 million.

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.  — Catalogs.com has launched Dynalog, a new dynamic digital catalog solution that enables retailers to create interactive e-catalogs that are optimized for Web and mobile devices. The solution does not use PDFs or shrink down existing catalogs into digital format, but allows retailers to develop, customize and launch customized digital catalogs within 30 minutes.

Ed Record, a former finance executive with Stages stores, Kohl’s, Belk and Federated, has been appointed to replace Ken Hannah as CFO at J.C. Penney.

Hannah joined J.C. Penney less than two years ago under the leadership of former CEO Ron Johnson, a former Apple executive who pursued a costly transformation strategy that alienated customers and led to sharp sales declines. Johnson was ousted last April and former J.C. Penney CEO Myron Ullman was brought back to restore growth and undo much of Johnson’s handiwork.

Whole Foods Market said total sales for the first quarter ended Jan. 19 climbed 10% to a record $4.2 billion. But those results reportedly missed analysts’ expectations, and the company has lowered its earnings outlook for 2014 as a result.

Momentum at Whole Foods — as well as shares — slipped. Comparable store sales for the quarter increased 5.4%, compared to a 7.2% increase in the prior year.

Retail and financial trade associations have banded together to combat cyber crime in wake of the Target data breach.

Shopkick, a real-world shopping app, has expanded testing of its shopBeacon technology. The new technology, which was deployed in late November at two Macy’s stores, will be active in thousands of stores nationwide by the end of the first quarter.

Newgistics, a leading provider of end-to-end e-commerce solutions for top retailers and brands, has entered into a partnership with ShipStation, a leading Web-based shipping solution for online merchants.

Newgistics seeks to leverage the partnership to streamline shipping operations and bolster its ongoing strategy to drive rapid and sustainable growth for its customers using expert logistics solutions.  

All eyes will be on Walmart’s new CEO Doug McMillon next week when the company reports worse-than-expected fourth quarter results on Thursday, and McMillon makes his first public comments since becoming CEO.

McMillon is no stranger to providing financial updates during the company’s pre-recorded earnings calls, investor conferences and analysts’ meetings. He performed those duties on numerous occasions during the past decade while serving as president and CEO of Walmart International and president and CEO of Sam’s Club before that.