Data & Analytics

LLBean.com provided the highest-rated customer service of all major online retailers during the month of November 2013, according to the Stella Monthly Ranking from the StellaService customer service analysis firm.

L.L. Bean was ranked number one for overall customer service and also in the email customer service area.

SierraTradingPost.com took top honors for phone customer service, Sears.com had the highest ranked shipping customer service and Bloomingdales.com has the best returns customer service.

Pier 1 is touting the progress it’s made with its 1 Pier 1 omnichannel strategy, following financial results for the third quarter. Pier1.com continued to outperform the company’s expectations with increases in traffic and conversion, and representing more than 4% of total sales in the quarter.

eBay has completed its previously announced acquisition of Braintree, a global payment platform powering the next generation of leading online and mobile-first startups.

In accordance with the terms of the acquisition agreement announced Sept. 26, eBay acquired Braintree for total consideration of approximately $800 million in cash.

New York -- The initially predicted “super weekend” (Dec. 21 and Dec. 22) will now become a “monster weekend” for brick-and-mortar stores, according to RetailNext, whose analysts predict a low single-digit uptick in traffic for brick-and-mortar stores, which will translate into an estimated 5% sales growth this weekend, resulting from improved conversion. The impact of last weekend’s snowstorm, coupled with the online shipping cutoffs, makes this weekend for brick-and-mortars even more substantial.

Seattle -- Shoefitr, which provides improved fit and sizing information for customers buying shoes online, has partnered with Nordstrom to help customers shopping on Nordstrom.com find the right fit. As part of the partnership, Nordstrom has also made an investment in Shoefitr.

The capability is now live on Nordstrom.com and uses Shoefitr's 3-D imaging software to provide size and fit recommendations on some of the company's most popular shoe styles that the customer is interested in buying.

Reston, Va. -- U.S. retail e-commerce spending from desktop computers for the first 45 days of the November-December 2013 holiday season totaled $37.8 billion, according to comScore. For the first time ever, the most recent workweek saw five individual days eclipse $1 billion in spending, led by Green Monday with $1.4 billion.

Store growth is the ultimate goal of most chain retailers. The more locations you have, the more revenues you (generally) bring in. But sometimes adding new stores creates its own new challenges.

When San Francisco-based Philz Coffee determined about four or five years ago that it wanted to start adding to its base of five coffee shops in the Bay Area, first with more stores in California and eventually hundreds of locations throughout the U.S,, the retailer knew its existing enterprise systems would not support that type of aggressive growth strategy.

Cincinnati – Macy’s will build a major direct-to-consumer fulfillment center near Owasso in Tulsa County, Okla., to support continued sales growth driven by Macy’s omni-channel strategy. The company is expected to invest more than $170 million in the facility, including the latest technology in material handling equipment and warehouse management systems.

Minneapolis – Target says that online traffic continues to grow at double-digit rates, with mobile sales growing more than 100% for the holiday period. Target.com experienced two of the strongest days of sales in its history on Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday.

In addition, Target was recently ranked as the most-browsed retailer on mobile over the past six months, according to a new report from Mobiquity.