Data & Analytics

Target has added three new external senior-level hires, who will have responsibility for leading teams across information technology, e-commerce and digital products.

Washington, D.C. - Americans love giving and receiving gift cards. According to a survey of more than 1,100 U.S. consumers from the Retail Gift Card Association (RGCA), 77% of consumers have given a gift card in the past year and 90% have received at least one in the past year.

Nearly 2,000 Home Depot stores in the U.S. began offering a wide range of connected home devices that run on the Wink platform on July 7.

The Wink platform unites close to 60 devices, creating the broadest set of connected home products in one ecosystem, with fifteen leading manufacturers of home products ranging from light bulbs and locks to window shades, irrigation systems and water heaters, according to Wink and Home Depot.

New York – In a regulatory filing, PetSmart disclosed that its board of directors is considering changes to the company’s capital structure in order to return more capital to shareholders. The disclosure follows a July 3 announcement by activist investor Jana Partners that it holds a 9.9% stake in PetSmart and plans to ask the retailer to explore various options, including a sale.

Seattle -- Target Corp. on Monday announced three executive hires who will have responsibilities for leading teams across its information technology, e-commerce and digital product teams.

Jim Fisher was named senior VP, infrastructure and operations, Target Technology Services, where he will oversee Target’s technical infrastructure and operations. Immediately before Target, Fisher was senior VP of global infrastructure operations at First Data Corporation.

Off-price department store retailer Gordmans Stores is still without a full-time CEO, but the retailer did just fill two key marketing and e-commerce positions.

The Omaha-based apparel and home decor retailer named Amy Starr Myers to the role of SVP of marketing and Stacey Townsend was named vp and general manager of e-commerce to launch Gordman’s online sales effort.

EnTouch Controls, a provider of cloud-based energy management services, is embarking on an aggressive growth strategy and to that end has appointed William Rickman as its new director of national accounts.

Rickman has more than a decade of experience of selling cloud-based financial services and fraud prevention solutions to the restaurant and retail markets.

Retailers have long been urged to employ Big Data analysis to uncover big insights into how their business is performing, how their brand resonates among consumers, and whether their customer experience meets expectations. But the new trend in Big Data is applying much more refined analysis at the granular level to uncover small insights that can combine to reveal even larger truths.