Data & Analytics

North Franklin, Conn. – Home product e-commerce retailer The Yankee Retail Company has implemented Yottaa Engagement Cloud to optimize user engagement and business performance. Yottaa Engagement Cloud is an SaaS platform that monitors and optimizes user engagement to increase conversions and revenue across mobile and websites.

It has been a rough start to the holiday season for the closeout retail sector. Building #19, a New England-based closeout chain that became something of a local institution, recently closed its doors after 50 years in business (though it plans to reopen a few locations as specialty rug stores). A few days later, national closeout powerhouse Big Lots reported disappointing financial results for the third quarter.

Sales of gift cards in 2013 are expected to surpass $118 billion in sales, an 8% increase from 2012. CEB Tower Report research suggests that the widespread adoption of e-gifting, which experienced rapid growth from $300 million in 2012 to a predicted $3 billion in 2013, will provide scale for continued industry gains through 2016.

In addition, open network branded cards grew from $41 billion to $44 billion, retailer card volume grew from $36 billion to $39 billion, and restaurant and miscellaneous segments held flat at $19 billion and $13 billion, respectively.

More Americans now say they are loosening the purse strings in advance of the holiday season, and fewer say they are tightening their belts, according to a recent Citi national survey.

Only 35% said they would be spending less than last year, reflecting the lowest level of holiday budget cutbacks since the financial crisis. As many as 63% of Americans plan to spend more (11%) or the same (52%) on holiday shopping this year.

Rakuten LinkShare announced double-digit year-over-year growth during Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, driven primarily by transactions conducted on mobile devices.

Guthy-Renker, the company behind Proactiv and other wellness products, named Jay Sung to the role of chief marketing officer to lead a broad slate of initiatives at the direct marketing company.

Sung will report to Seth Radwell, Guthy-Renker’s co-president and chief revenue officer, and help the company pursue 2014 growth objectives for brands such as Proactiv+, Meaningful Beauty, WEN Haircare and Sheer Cover Studio.

Merchant Warehouse, a leading provider of payment technologies and merchant account services, has appointed Christopher Wuhrer as SVP, strategic initiatives and product marketing.

With more than 18 years of experience in payments, e-commerce and mobile technology, Wuhrer will be responsible for driving the product vision, direction and go-to market strategies for the company's product and service offerings.

Duane Reade launched a “Show Us Your Party Legs” holiday photo contest on Facebook. The contest is a omnichannel social media marketing campaign that aims to raise awareness of Duane Reade-brand hosiery products that will run through Jan. 4.

Washington, D.C. -- The average holiday shopper had completed half (49.9%) of their shopping, slightly less than the 56.5% they’d completed by this time last year, boding well for retailers who are preparing for a very big holiday shopping weekend, according to the National Retail Federation’s latest holiday survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. Specifically, 32 million or 14% say they have not even started, while another 20 million, or 8.9%  say they are already finished.

Pleasanton, Calif. -- Safeway has made its online grocery shopping website more accessible and usable for Safeway shoppers with visual impairments.

Safeway collaborated with its visually impaired customers to make the necessary changes to its website. As such, the company has adopted the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.0 level AA as its accessibility standard.