Data & Analytics

Retail sales rose ever so slightly in April, putting a damper on hopes of a sharp uptick in economic growth in the second quarter. According to the U.S. Commerce Department, retail sales, which include categories such as automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants, rose 0.1% in April, following a revised 1.5% increase in March that ranked as the biggest since March 2010.

Washington, D.C. - Retail sales rose ever so slightly in April, putting a damper on hopes of a sharp uptick in economic growth in the second quarter. According to the U.S. Commerce Department, retail sales, which include categories such as automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants, rose 0.1% in April, following a revised 1.5% increase in March that ranked as the biggest since March 2010.

Kohl’s and Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions have partnered with Plug and Play for their newest program, Plug and Play Retail, to engage with startups that align with their developing technology initiatives.

Plug and Play Retail is the first brand and retail-focused startup accelerator bringing together a round-table of complementary partners to guide the direction of the program and help decide the startups accepted.

Seattle – Slightly more than half (51%) of retailers do not have a plan for responding to security breaches. According to a new study conducted by Microsoft, “Security Trends for Retail Services,” almost three-quarters (72%) of retailers do not have budgeted disaster recovery plans.

Los Angeles -- The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has named Karen Cate as CFO and Jeff Schroeder as VP operations.

Cate most recently served as the VP controller of Trader Joe's Company, where she was responsible for the integrity of financial processes and reporting for the retail grocery store, warehouses, and distribution operations.

Schroeder brings more than 30 years of experience with large multi-unit operations in the restaurant industry. He most recently served as VP brewery restaurants for Karl Strauss Brewing Company.

Alpharetta, Ga. – Three-quarters (74%) of businesses report that the time spent on social media has increased since last year, and 54% report that social spending has increased. According to a new study from Social Media Marketing University (SMMU), top social media expenditures include internal staff compensation (37%), social advertising (18%), external staff compensation (10%) and content (7%).

Other notable findings include:

• 60% report that content development requires the bulk of the time dedicated to social.

San Diego - While showrooming, the process of researching in-store before buying online, remains popular among 76% of consumers, the emerging trend of webrooming, or researching online before buying in-store, is even more common, representing 88% of shoppers. According to “The Rise of Webrooming: A Changing Consumer Landscape,” a report from Interactions, 75% of webroomers believe they can find the lowest in-store price, while 72% prefer online product comparisons and 71% prefer online product research.

New York - Macys.com has successfully deployed the SAP InfiniteInsight solution to help better understand customer buying behavior and optimize email and website marketing campaigns. The company had a number of variables to understand when it came to understanding likelihood of a customer to spend in a certain product category.