Data & Analytics

Following disappointing results during the first quarter of fiscal 2014, which were consistent with the company’s expectations, American Eagle Outfitters has decided to close 150 stores in North America during the next three years, including nearly 100 AE stores.

For 2014, the company plans on closing approximately 50 AE and 20 aerie stores in North America. The store closings will translate to annualized after-tax savings of between $10 and $15 million beginning in 2015.

London -- The China-based business of U.K. fashion retailer New Look has selected a POS system enabled with DigitalPersona fingerprint technology. After a successful trial at six of the retailer’s stores in February, New Look is set to expand their use of biometrics in 16 of its stores by the end of 2014, with longer-range plans to equip 100 stores by 2017.

While many retailers were still reeling from a prolonged winter that hurt their first quarter results, Michaels saw solid results in its first quarter, posting increases in both net and comparable-store sales.

By Sandy Skrovan, U.S. Research Director, Planet Retail

On Target's Q1 results, Sandy Skrovan, U.S. Research Director at Planet Retail, comments:

"Don't expect a lot from Target this quarter. The data breach and subsequent fallout - including leadership turnover and ongoing shopper trust issues - weigh like an albatross around the retailer's neck. Besides dealing with internal issues, some broader retail metrics don't bode well for Target either, suggesting another disappointing quarter is on the cards."

Despite the massive data breach that hurt Target’s fourth quarter, people are not staying away from the retailer. According to a Reuters report, the company saw a dramatic improvement in traffic in the first quarter compared to its late fourth-quarter trends.

New York - Foot Locker Inc. is introducing Eastbay Performance Zone at Champs Sports. The new shop-in-shop destination brings together direct-to-customer athletic apparel retailer Eastbay and Champs Sports.  

Jacksonville, Fla. - A lack of robust reporting tools that can give a 360-degree view to all aspects of a customer purchase and profile can seriously hinder e-commerce growth and optimization. A new study of 4,346 e-commerce marketers conducted by MarketingSherpa and sponsored by EBay Enterprise company Magneto shows that companies with a testing and optimization strategy based on extensive historical data saw higher median conversion rates than those that test based on intuition, best practices or don't test at all.

Toronto – Sears Canada more than doubled its net loss year-over-year to $75.2 million, from $31.2 million in a difficult first quarter of fiscal 2014. Expenses related to the closure of stores and severance of personnel played a major role in the growth of the retailer’s net loss.