Data & Analytics

New York -- Delhaize Group announced that it would close 33 under-performing Sweetbay stores in Florida by mid-February. The shutterings, which are part of a broader reorganization plan, amount to about one-third of the chain.

“While these decisions are difficult, especially given the impact on our associates, customers and communities, these actions will continue to enhance the performance of our overall store portfolio and further enable us to deliver profitable growth and accelerate shareholder value,” the company said in a statement.

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- Luxury shoppers are more likely to use mobile channels when shopping but are slightly less satisfied with e-commerce overall, according to the Luxury E-Retail Satisfaction Index released by customer experience analytics firm ForeSee. Luxury brands have an aggregate score of 77 on the study's 100-point scale, falling just short of the average score of the top 100 online retailers overall (78).

San Francisco -- Williams-Sonoma reported that its revenue increased 4.8% to $1.01 billion for the nine-week period ended Dec.30.The company also backed its fourth-quarter and full-year forecast.

Williams-Sonoma will discuss its performance in more detail in March when it releases its fourth quarter results.

Company president and CEO Laura Alber said the chain's performance reflected the strength of its brands even amid a time of consumer uncertainty and intense promotional activity across the retail industry.

Naperville, Ill. — OfficeMax is joining forces with Go Daddy, a leading web-hosting and domain name provider.

OfficeMax's exclusive bundles of Go Daddy website services will allow businesses to register their domain names, create professional websites and maximize their business visibility on Internet search engines. There are no monthly service fees. One-year service bundles range from simple domain and website authentication to hosting an online store.

By TJ Person, [email protected]

Using a smartphone for everyday transactions is becoming commonplace, with an estimated 86 million Americans using their smartphone to shop every day. They use it to pay; they use it for specials; and they use it to redeem coupons.  

TAMPA, Fla. — Sterling Payment Technologies, a leading national payment processor, has appointed Jeffrey Akeson to executive director of third party/ISO sales.  

Sterling Payment Technologies is a customer-focused payment processor which provides merchants with a complete range of electronic payment services, including credit, debit, PIN debit, fleet, gift card and proprietary rewards and loyalty programs. The company combines POS technology and value-added merchant solutions.

BELLEVUE, Wash. – Former Microsoft executive James S. Pinckney has joined Coinstar as its new corporate leader of strategy and operations, a newly created position.

The move comes a week and a half after the provider of automated retail solutions named J. Scott Di Valerio as its new CEO.

Pinckney has more than 25 years of international general management, strategy and sales experience from Lenovo, Microsoft Corp., The Sabre Group and Hitachi Data Systems Corp.

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. — According to global information company the NPD Group, consumers rewarded the U.S. retail toy industry with a strong December.

Based on data from the NPD Group’s Retail Tracking Service, many shoppers waited until the last two weeks of December to do their holiday toy shopping. Looking at those two weeks, dollar sales were up 18%and unit sales were up 10% when compared to the same time period in 2011.  

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — Staples has promoted SVP of business services John Burke to SVP, chief culture officer, a newly created role.

Burke will be charged with leading global efforts focused on building Staples’ culture and for driving improved associate engagement. He will champion Staples’ approach to ethics, environmental sustainability, community relations and diversity and inclusion. Burke will also serve as president of the Staples Foundation, the company’s nonprofit philanthropic organization.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. — Dole Food Company has started the New Year with a new look for its website.

Dole describes the redesigned website as easy for consumers to use on all tablets and mobile devices. Dole teamed up with Santa Monica-based digital agency Blitz for one year to work on the redesign.