Data & Analytics

Portland, Ore. -- Bettery announced that it has teamed up with Safeway to give consumers a convenient way to adopt reusable household batteries, not only reducing their environmental footprint but also saving them money.

Bettery Swap Stations – kiosks for purchasing and exchanging rechargeable batteries – are being installed this month at multiple Safeway locations, starting with stores in Portland, Seattle and surrounding communities.

Burlington, Mass. -- Demandware announced that Black Diamond Equipment, which specializes in active outdoor performance products for climbing, mountaineering, backpacking, skiing and other active outdoor recreation activities, has re-launched its ecommerce site on the Demandware Commerce platform.

Over time, Black Diamond, Inc. plans to leverage Demandware’s cloud platform to quickly and cost-effectively roll out distinct sites for all of its global brands, including Black Diamond, , Gregory,  POC and PIEPS.

New York -- Thirty-eight percent of shoppers are likely to shop on Thanksgiving Day this year, according to Accenture’s annual Holiday Shopping Survey. Of those shoppers planning to hit the stores on Thanksgiving, 41% said they will be out shopping between 6 p.m. Thanksgiving Day and 5 a.m. the next morning.

By Lynn Hinderaker, [email protected]

The future is knocking on the door of hedge fund manager and owner of Sears, Eddie Lampert. His decision to split off Lands’ End and Sears Auto Center from the core Sears brand would have been a good decision in 2004, one year after he purchased the deteriorating retail brand. Today, given the monumental shift in online purchasing behavior that has changed all of retailing, Lampert’s move is akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Thorofare, N.J. -- Shrink, comprised of shoplifting, employee or supplier fraud, organized retail crime and administrative errors, cost the retail industry more than $112 billion globally last year, and represented 1.4% of retail sales, on average, according to the 2012-2013 Global Retail Theft Barometer. In the United States, shrink came in at 1.5% of retail sales.

Chicago -- ShopperTrak predicts that Wednesday, Dec. 4, will be the best day for consumers to shop this holiday season with the least amount of store shopper traffic.

New York -- Cache's loss in the third quarter widened amid increased expenses. Its results were also impacted by a large income tax benefit last year.

For the period ended Sept. 28, Cache Inc. lost $8 million, compared to a loss of $6.4 million a year ago.

Revenue increased 3% to $47.2 million, from $45.8 million. Same-store sales were down 2.9%.

Waterloo, Ontario -- Descartes Systems Group announced that Sears Holdings Corp. has selected Descartes' home delivery solution to enhance its ability to serve customers and improve the efficiency of its home delivery operations.

Wayne, N.J. -- Toys “R” Us unveiled redesigned and updated e-commerce sites for Toysrus.com and Babiesrus.com, with a fresh design and layout, revamped navigation and other new features. In addition, the sites have introduced social shopping – allowing customers to organize their most-wanted items in shareable toy and baby boards, while also viewing the most popular and trending products on the sites.

Salisbury, N.C. -- Food Lion announced that it has made significant investments in 169 stores in North Carolina and South Carolina and created 500 new jobs. Key markets include Greenville, N.C., Wilmington, N.C., Columbia, S.C., Charleston, S.C., and Myrtle Beach, S.C.

To celebrate the launch, Food Lion is holding grand re-opening festivities at the 169 stores, including providing the first 50 customers at each location with a bag of free groceries Nov. 13 through Nov. 16.