Data & Analytics

Philadelphia -- More than three-fourths (79%) of retailers expect an increase in sales this holiday season – the highest percentage seen since the financial downturn. That’s according to global management consultancy Hay Group’s seventh annual retail holiday survey, whose results were more optimistic that several other holiday forecasts.

Bloomberg Businessweek senior writer Brad Stone has authored a new book about Amazon that is a must read for anyone involved in the retail industry – especially Walmart.

Cosmetics retailer Lush is turning to Storage Made Easy’s Enterprise File Share and Sync solution with data stored on OpenStack Swift to help improve its global reach.


Lush ran an initial two month trial with 50 people prior to moving forward with the Storage Made Easy solution. They subsequently rolled out the solution in stages, by department, first to 150 people and then on to 300 people, and then again on to 500 people.

“Lush expects to reach more than 1,000 users by the time the solution is fully rolled out," said Jim Liddle, Storage Made Easy CEO.

L’Oréal is expanding its relationship with Demandware, a cloud commerce solutions provider, and will use the Demandware Commerce platform to power the digital transformation strategy of its brand portfolio around the globe. 

Stein Mart experienced strong sales in linens, ladies' boutique, gifts, ladies' career sportswear and women's in September, which bolstered the company’s total sales for the month.

Total sales were $112.20 million, an increase of 7.3% compared to September 2012. Comparable store sales increased 5% compared to last September’s increase of 2.4%.

Retail Process Engineering, an innovative retail merchandising and supply chain solutions provider, has appointed Tom DiPinto as an account executive. 

DiPinto has more than 20 years of experience in enterprise class software solutions with deep experience in retail, project management and systems implementation. He will be responsible for identifying new clients and working with existing clients to align software solutions with business objectives to improve processes, grow the business and save money. 

On shelf availability at Walmart and the retailer’s newest technology tool will be the topic of discussion next week when Doing Business in Bentonville hosts an event on October 16 featuring a panel of speakers that includes Walmart’s director of supplier innovations Mike Graen.

The focus of the 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. breakfast session will be Walmart’s SPARC program, an initiative born out of the desire to improve the on shelf availability of products by creating a Supplier Portal Allowing Retail Coverage (SPARC).

Safeway plans to exit the Chicago market where it operates 72 supermarkets under the Dominick’s banner by early 2014 after posting third quarter profits that were roughly half those of the comparable period the prior year.
The decision to exit Chicago follows similar move earlier this year when Safeway announced the sale of its Canadian operations.

Salt Lake City -- Overstock.com has announced the opening of a distribution center in Jonestown, Pa. The new operation will enable faster fulfillment through state-of-the-art warehouse technologies, while providing room for growth. The new center will fill orders to customers from Maine to Florida within two days.

Initially, the Jonestown warehouse will bring 15 jobs to the area with additional jobs as the operation grows over the next few years. The company’s primary warehouse will remain in Salt Lake City.

New York -- Amazon remains the world's most trusted retailer despite widespread criticism of its tax affairs and labor disputes.

The Internet giant topped a poll of 30,000 consumers in nine countries although the research by OC&C, unveiled on the closing day of the World Retail Congress, revealed that “its crown has very much slipped.”

Consumers were asked to rank nearly 600 retailers on a range of factors such as trust, value for money, service, product, and multichannel capability.