Data & Analytics

Increased customer traffic helped drive Dollar Tree’s third-quarter results. The retailer cited growth in consumer basics as well as seasonal and variety merchandise, and said its higher margin variety categories are growing at a faster pace.

The company reported consolidated net sales for the quarter of $1.9 billion, a 9.5% increase from $1.72 billion for the year-ago quarter. Comparable store sales increased 3.1%.

Walgreens has named Sona Chawla, currently president of e-commerce, as president of digital and chief marketing officer. In this new role, Chawla will lead a newly created digital and marketing division, establishing an integrated digital, enterprise-wide marketing and customer loyalty and insights group to advance Walgreens “Well Experience” strategy.

Bon-Ton is looking ahead to the holiday selling season, and focusing its marketing efforts on driving shoppers not only to stores but also to its e-commerce site.

The company saw comparable store sales for the third quarter decrease 2.8%. But the company was able to narrow its loss to $0.9 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, from $10.1 million, or $0.55 per diluted share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2012.
 

Staples has named Tom Conophy as EVP, chief information officer, overseeing all aspects of Staples’ global IT organization. He will report directly to Ron Sargent, Staples’ chairman and CEO, and will serve on the Staples executive committee.

Add Target to the list of retailers whose weak third quarter sales performance highlighted troubling spending behaviors that threaten to undermine its holiday sales performance.

The company reported disappointing third quarter sales and profits Thursday morning and then stated the obvious that shoppers will price sensitive during an intensely competitive holiday season. The company said same store sales increased 0.9%, slightly less than the company’s forecast provided on August 21 which called for an increase of 1% to 2%.

The electronic currency known as bitcoin allows small- and medium-size companies to reach more customers by opening new markets that were previously unreachable, the co-founder of a company that allows businesses to use bitcoins said in testimony this week before two Senate subcommittees. And it appears that federal authorities are open to its development.

San Francisco – Gap Inc. is rolling out its “Reserve in Store” capabilities to all U.S. Banana Republic stores and more than 200 Gap stores in 15 major U.S. markets. The launch, which follows a successful pilot in San Francisco and Chicago-area Gap and Banana Republic stores, makes it easy for customers to shop online or with their mobile device, place items on hold and pick them up in local stores.

Boston – Despite conventional industry wisdom, shoppers who use mobile devices for showrooming are almost twice as likely to purchase from the retailer in-store or online (38%) than buy elsewhere (21.6%). A new study from e-commerce technology provider SeeWhy, “Showrooming Realities: When Worlds Collide,” also shows that one third (33%) of more 60,000 consumers surveyed who owned a mobile device had used a device as part of their shopping process, and 12% do it routinely.

Nashville – Almost six-in-10 (58%) adults say their smartphone is very important for Black Friday shopping. A survey of nearly 1,000 adults by technology protection services vendor Asurion, also reveals 49% of shoppers will make Black Friday purchases from their smartphone.

New York -- Enterprise users will gain unprecedented control over their technology environment in 2014. This is the overarching theme of the key enterprise technology trends Verizon has identified for 2014.

In brief review, the trends include:

The Customer of One Comes of Age