Data & Analytics

Whiting, Ind. -- Research released Wednesday by CouponCabin.com showed that more than half of U.S. adults’ online shopping habits won’t be impacted by rising shipping costs.

According to the survey, conducted by Harris Interactive for CouponCabin.com, 51% of those polled said they are neither more or less likely to shop online, even with potentially increasing shipping costs. An additional 7% said they are more likely to shop online.

Franklin, Tenn. -- The overall penetration of POS devices continued to expand 3.9% in North America and 4.6% around the globe in 2012, according to The POS Vendor Shipments Database, released Wednesday by IHL Group. Growth is expected to continue at 3.6% worldwide for 2013.  

Framingham, Mass. -- The TJX Cos. reported Wednesday a profit of $604.8 million for the quarter ended Feb. 2, compared with $475.3 million in the year-ago period. Despite the strong showing, TJX forecast a slowed growth pace for the new fiscal year and issued a profit forecast below analysts’ expectations. And joining many other retailers, the company announced that beginning with the fiscal 2014 second quarter, it will no longer report monthly sales.

Waban, Mass. -- Survey results released Wednesday by Temkin Group revealed that Publix and Trader Joe’s ranked the highest among 246 companies in terms of customer experience.

The 2013 Temkin Experience Ratings, which polled 10,000 U.S. consumers, were dominated by grocery chains and food purveyors. After Public and Trader Joe’s was Aldi, and rounding out the top 12 were Chick-fil-A, Amazon.com, Sam's Club, H.E.B., Dunkin' Donuts, Save-a-Lot, Sonic Drive-In, Little Caeser's and Ace Hardware.

New York -- A new report by Experian Marketing Services finds that several key retail trends will impact how marketers shape their messages in 2013.

According to the 2013 Digital Marketer Report, consumers today are multi-device and multichannel shoppers, forcing digital marketers to adapt and evolve their message to reach consumers across channels and all along the path to purchase.  

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. reported Wednesday a profit of $961 million for the fourth quarter, down from $981 million in the year-ago period. The profit slip reflected expenses related to its Canadian market entry along with a spending slowdown during the holiday sales period. It was Target's weakest holiday season performance since 2008. But its adjusted results beat analysts' estimates and it forecast first-quarter earnings above Wall Street's view.

By Sandy Skrovan, U.S. research director, Planet Retail

By Oren Betzaleli, EVP, head of product and marketing, Retalix

As smartphones and tablets continue to infiltrate the market, they are increasingly changing the way people interact with each other, receive information, and expect to be served by retailers and service providers. As a result, more and more retailers are starting to offer self-service mobile applications as a popular means to manage customer interaction and relationships.

Retailer-Owned vs. Consumer-Owned Self-Service

ROSEVILLE, Calif. — Revionics, aprovider of end-to-end merchandise optimization solutions, has appointed Jeff Edwards as SVP and managing director of Asia Pacific. Edwards has been successfully serving as Revionics’ SVP sales and account management for the company’s North American efforts. In his new role, Edwards will be responsible for strategic sales and business development efforts across the entire Asia Pacific region.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Comps were down 7% at RadioShack for the fourth quarter, driven by a decline in the mobility and consumer electronics platforms. Total sales and and operating revenue were $1.3 billion, compared with $1.4 billion last year.  

The company reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $63 million, or 63 cents per diluted share, compared with net income of $12 million last year.