Data & Analytics

Oak Brook, Ill. - McDonald's Corporation reported increased same-store sales in all but one segment during August 2013. Same-store sales increased 0.2% in the U.S. compared to the same month in the previous year, and also grew 3.3% in Europe and 1.9% globally.

However, same-store sales in Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa (AMPEA) declined 0.5%. McDonald’s cited negative sales results in Japan and China, partially offset by positive results in many other markets and the shift in timing of Ramadan. Systemwide sales improved 2.8%.

Dallas – Independent agency network Project: Worldwide intends to acquire Mercury 11, a social media and marketing technology agency with retail and shopper marketing focus. The agency will be integrated with Project’s shopper marketing engagement agency Shoptology.

Mt. Laurel, N.J. - Spencer Gifts, LLC will deploy Retail 20/20 exception-based reporting technology from Agilence. Spencer Gifts plans to use the Retail 20/20 solution to build complex reports and dashboards and obtain near real-time visibility into store operations.

The Pep Boys are remaining cautiously optimistic that there will be an increase in demand for tires this year, following a comparable store sales decrease of 1.3% for the second quarter ended Aug. 3. 

Sales for the quarter increased 0.4% to $527.6 million from $525.7 million for the prior-year quarter. The company’s operating profit for the quarter, adjusted to exclude merger-related costs, was $19.4 million as compared to $15.5 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2012. 

Fumbi Chima, Walmart VP of global technology services and strategic partnerships, has been elected to the World Affairs Council-Washington, D.C., board of directors.

Chima is responsible for Walmart’s vendor management office, project management office and its global technology services office in India, as well as the IT asset management team.

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in August 2012 versus August 2013 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains. A home improvement promotional arms race between Home Depot and Lowe’s appears to be taking place: Lowe’s saw year-over-year increases of 100%, 75% and 184.4% across circular page count, ad block per page count and ad block per circular count, respectively. Despite these large gains, Lowe’s still appears to be playing catch-up to Home Depot, which continued to run more ad blocks per page and per circular than Lowe’s.

Abercrombie & Fitch has extended its contract with GT Nexus to expand its cloud supply chain strategy and improve visibility into the movement of orders, payments and goods. 

Since 2010, the company has used the GT Nexus platform to support international sourcing and supplier collaboration.

Abercrombie & Fitch operates 1,053 apparel stores in 20 countries across four unique lifestyle brands: Abercrombie & Fitch, Abercrombie Kids, Hollister Co. and Gilly Hicks. The retailer operates distinct e-commerce sites for each of the four brands. 

Restoration Hardware plans to open full line design galleries in Greenwich, Atlanta and Los Angeles in 2014, and is currently in negotiations to open more than 30 locations in other key markets. The next generation full line design galleries will be larger and showcase the company’s assortment and new businesses.

Philadelphia -- Five Below saw net income surge to $4.1 million for the quarter ended August 3, up from $1.2 million in the year-ago period. Sales climbed 34.9% to $117.1 million from $86.8 million, and same-store sales increased 6.6%. The company had, by the quarter’s end, opened 32 of its previously announced 60 new stores on tap for 2013.

New York -- Despite their love of the internet, Generation Y shoppers remain loyal brick-and-mortar shoppers, according to survey results by the Urban Land Institute. One caveat, however, is that the physical shopping experience must be exciting.