Data & Analytics

Chicago -- Despite the shortened holiday season and extreme weather in many areas of the country in the weeks leading up to Christmas, retailers finished the 2013 holiday shopping season with increased sales. According to ShopperTrak, during the holiday shopping season of November and December 2013, national retail sales increased 2.7% and foot traffic decreased 14.6% when compared to the same two months of 2012.

The Container Store posted a better than expected profit performance during its first quarter as a public company but offered a full year outlook analysts found underwhelming.

Despite the short holiday season, December was still the biggest shopping month of the year.

Shopper traffic up more than one-third over November

J.C. Penney provided an ambiguous update on its holiday season performance, indicating it showed continued progress in its turnaround efforts and was “pleased” with its performance.

The company released a brief and vague statement Wednesday morning in which it noted, “customers responded well to the company’s offerings this holiday season, both in stores and online.”

Efficient Collaborative Retail Marketing on Wednesday unveiled the ECRM Data website, ECRMData.com. ECRM Data is an industry solution that offers turnkey solutions for promotional tracking and analysis functions.

Safeway and Giant Eagle are rolling out the inMarket Mobile to Mortar iBeacon location sensing platform at more than 150 grocery stores in Seattle, San Francisco and Cleveland, with additional retailers and markets launching in the coming months.

iBeacons are micro-location technology that use a low-energy Bluetooth signal to enable unique mobile app experiences based on the customer’s location in the store.

Groupon has named Tamer Tamar as SVP of international operations and Sri Subramaniam as VP of engineering for smart deals.

“We’re thrilled to have Tamer and Sri join Groupon and bring their incredible talent to our expanding bench of senior executives,” said CEO Eric Lefkofsky. “Tamer and Sri will accelerate Groupon’s plans to grow our international operations and deliver more and more relevant deals to our customers throughout the world.”

While the vulnerabilities of Target's data systems were exposed during a recent data breach the company’s data centers were being hailed as a model of energy efficiency by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program.

The phrase “massive data breach” is the last thing any retailer wants to see their name associated with, but when bad things happen to good retailers Target's response to the situation is a blueprint for other retailers.

With the new year come resolutions and Sears is looking to capitalize with the FitStudio.com “Points for Progress” program — a fitness rewards program that incentivizes members to incorporate movement into their daily lives to get and stay fit — with the help of pro football analyst and former Steeler Hines Ward.