Data & Analytics

Lowe’s is kicking off the holiday season by positioning itself as the go-to place for DIYers to shop for materials that will allow them to tackle budget-friendly DIY projects so they can prepare their homes for the holidays.

The home improvement retailer has a dedicated landing page offering inspiration from do-it-yourselfers and designers, including Design Mom, Little Green Notebook, Brit + Co., Curbly and P.S. – I made this… and Oh Happy Day.

Less than a week after Office Depot and Officemax consummated their merger, the combined companies have a new chairman and CEO in former Delhaize America CEO Roland Smith.

In conjunction with the appointment of Smith, who also previously served as CEO of Wendy’s, the two CEOs of Office Depot and OfficeMax who were serving as co-CEOs of the combined company both resigned. Neil Austrian served as CEO of Office Depot and Ravi Saligram served as CEO of OfficeMax prior to the merger.

Los Angeles -- Sport Chalet reported a loss for the second quarter of fiscal 2014 of $3.0 million, compared to net income of $0.8 million in the year-ago period. Sales decreased 5.2% to $86.7 million from $91.5 million, with a 2.5% comparable store sales decrease. Among the few bright spots was a 32.4% increase in online sales, and a better-than-expected performance by the chain's new store concept.  

New York -- YCD Multimedia, a provider of smart digital signage solutions, announced that Silver Jeans Co. has installed YCD's content management system (YCD|CMS) as the engine behind a new in-store concept.

The new format uses music and video wall technology to build customer loyalty within a multi-sensory environment that captures attention and shares the Silver Jeans' story.  The concept debuted at The Woodlands Mall in Woodlands, Texas, is the first of several locations marking Silver Jeans’ transition to exclusive brick-and-mortar retail.

Armonk, N.Y. -- Online retailers can expect a strong holiday shopping season. According to the latest IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark data, which analyzes online transactions from more than 800 retailers in the U.S., retail sales were up 16% in October and 11% in the first week of November (Nov. 1-Nov. 7) compared to the same period last year.

New York -- Online food retailer Peapod and Giant Food Stores have opened a new fulfillment center in Coopersburg, Pa.

"Peapod by Giant has seen exciting growth in the Philadelphia area and we are delighted to partner with our sister grocer, Peapod, to expand service to additional ZIP codes in the Giant trade area," said Rick Herring, president. "As always, we will strive to provide a wide selection of well-priced, top quality, fresh products with the ease of online shopping and home delivery."

New York -- Version 3.0 of the PCI Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) and Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS) has been published and will become effective on January 1, 2014.

The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC), a global forum for the development of payment card security standards, published version 3.0 to its website, but version 2.0 will remain active until Dec. 31 to ensure adequate time for organization to make the transition.

New York -- Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) will open a 42,000-sq.-ft. store in the heart of New York City’s Times Square on Nov. 14 at 12:01 a.m., with a ribbon-cutting and lighting of the H&M logo on the top of the building by global recording and fashion superstar, Lady Gaga.

Information technology outsourcing (ITO) enables organizations to cut labor and infrastructure costs, improve operating efficiencies and increase flexibility in the IT department. Although certain aspects of retailing are ideally suited to out-of-house automation via ITO, the retail industry as a whole has not embraced ITO as much as some other industries.

New York -- Procrastinating is out this year when it comes to holiday shopping, with most consumers (62%) planning to finish their gift buying on or before Dec. 16, according to a survey by the International Council of Shopping Centers.

As in most years, the top shopping day of the year is expected to be Black Friday. However, Cyber Monday will follow close behind across most demographic groups, overtaking Super Saturday as the second busiest holiday shopping day of the year.