Data & Analytics

Chicago - Overall marketing and advertising budgets at leading U.S. retailers will rise by 1.% this year, compared to a decline of .98% in 2013, with 72% of retailers expecting to spend about the same amount on marketing and advertising compared to last year, according to the BDO Retail Compass Survey of CMOs, by BDO USA.

Walmart’s efforts to better integrate physical and digital appear to be gaining traction judging from key disclosures the company made regarding online activity.

Cyber Monday transaction volume set a new record at Walmart.com and throughout the five day period running from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday the company said it experienced more than 1.5 billion page views. During the same period, mobile accounted for approximately 70 percent of traffic to Walmart.com.

NEW YORK - New York City retailer Hammacher Schlemmer is pioneering what may well be the next evolution of catalog shopping with the launch of what it describes as the “first augmented reality catolog.”

"It's the next best thing to visiting our landmark Manhattan store in person," said Rich Tinberg, Hammacher Schlemmer's CEO.

Evansville, Ind. – Net income dipped to $10.8 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2014 from $10.9 million the same period the prior fiscal year. Net sales fared better, climbing 7% to $254.69 million from $235.77 million, ahead of previously issued guidance.

Shopping at the local mall may soon get a lot more interactive for consumers, if retail property owner Simon and eBay have their way.

The companies unveiled this week the “Connected Mall” experience in Palo Alto, Calif. The installation features a “smart” directory developed by eBay for the Simon Innovation Group that elevates the shopping experience by providing consumers with a suite of services, including point-to-point navigation and personalized offers and deals.

Seattle  - Santa may have his elves, but Amazon.com has something better to help send holiday gifts on their way: a robot army. The online giant has deployed more than 15,000  robots in 10 next-generation fulfillment centers it has opened across the United States.  

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart reportedly plans to improve efficiency in its China operation by eliminating 250 jobs, and also open nine new stores and a new distribution center in China by the end of 2014. According to Bloomberg, the positions that will be cut are mostly marketing and merchandising roles, along with some cuts in departments including tax and asset protection.

Washington, D.C. – The FBI is reportedly warning U.S. businesses of a catastrophic new malware that may have links to the governments of North Korea and/or Iran. According to Reuters, the malware has previously been used in destructive attacks against businesses in the Middle East and Asia, but was detected for the first time in the U.S. in a recent cyberattack that shut down corporate email for a week and damaged other systems at Sony Pictures Entertainment.