Data & Analytics

Central Garden & Pet is already starting to see results in the first quarter ended Dec. 28 from an operational strategy it put in place following a disappointing fourth quarter that yielded “unacceptable” financial results.

San Francisco-based One Kings Lane, an online destination for the home, has appointed Arun Rajan as chief technology officer.

In his new role, Rajan will lead end-to-end technology delivery, data infrastructure and site operations to support the growth and evolution of One Kings Lane.

Rajan joins alongside chief product officer David Yu, who joined One Kings Lane in mid-2013.

Target CFO John Mulligan ably represented the company in testimony before a Senate committee on Tuesday, but the one in the hot seat should have been chairman, president and CEO Gregg Steinhafel.
 
Recall when the nation’s bankrupt automakers needed a bailout, it was the CEOs of General Motors and Chrysler who appeared before legislators. And when big banks came under fire for their role in the housing crisis it was the financial firms’ CEOs who endured lawmakers pointed questions.

Inclement weather was not enough to keep Walgreens from posting January sales of $6.4 billion, an increase of 3.7% as compared to the year-ago period.

Total front-end sales increased 2.4% compared with the same month in fiscal 2013, while comparable store front-end sales increased 1.6%. Customer traffic in comparable stores decreased 2.2% while basket size increased 3.8%.

After taking a look at some of the post-holiday sales figures, it seems like maybe I was a little too pessimistic. While the overall 2013 holiday season’s sales aren’t particularly impressive, they aren’t flat, either — which is an outcome that I had worried about.

New York -- Walgreens’ net zero energy store in Evanston, Ill., was selected as Sustainable Store of the Year in Chain Store Age’s 32nd annual Retail Store of the Year design competition. The store, designed and built to produce energy equal to or greater than it consumes, will be highlighted during a special session at Chain Store Age’s 50th annual SPECS conference, March 9 -12, in Grapevine, Texas.

Deerfield Park, Ill. – Walgreen Co. is reportedly suing CVS Caremark Corp., Rite Aid Corp. and Shopko Stores Inc. for allegedly infringing on a patent for using mobile phone scanners to refill prescriptions. According to Bloomberg, Walgreens filed a complaint in federal court in Wilmington, Del., saying the three competitors are violating a patent it received in January 2013.

Grand Forks, N.D. - Acme Tools is revamping its online customer experience by launching its redesigned e-commerce website with IBM WebSphere Commerce and BlueSky Technology Partners. The new acmetools.com has new features and functionality that deliver a significantly improved customer experience for easy online shopping.

Aplharetta, Ga. - Catavolt, Inc., a provider of enterprise application mobility solutions, has launched the Catavolt for AirWatch app in the AirWatch Marketplace and Apple’s App Store. Catavolt’s cloud platform will enable AirWatch customers to rapidly and securely create new mobile apps that seamlessly integrate with existing enterprise systems.

Salt Lake City – Park City Group is adding enhancements to its food safety solution known as ReposiTrak. To enhance interaction between product suppliers and their customers, a communication feature has been added to ReposiTrak related to each referential document.