Data & Analytics

President and CEO of Walmart Global eCommerce, Neil Ashe, made a cameo appearance during Walmart’s fourth quarter earnings presentation to shed light on omnichannel investments that caused the company to forecast 2013 profits below analysts’ estimates.

Walmart’s forecast first quarter earnings in the range of $1.11 to $1.16 and full year earnings in the range of $5.20 to $5.40. Embedded in those numbers are huge investments in ecommerce that will cost the company about nine cents a share.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens on Friday will open the doors to "Wag U," an internal education center replete with technology-enhanced classrooms, a mock drug store and video-conferencing capabilities. The new learning center will be the base of operations for employee educational programs offered online and in regional locations nationwide. 

Salt Lake City -- Overstock.com said Friday it has named Stormy Simon and David Nielsen as co-presidents of the company.

Simon was previously SVP over customer and partner care and, with the promotion, will add oversight of warehouse logistics, press relations, social media and strategic marketing.  
 
Nielsen, promoted from SVP merchandising and supply chain, will add oversight of international sales, talent management and information technology.

New York -- On the heels of a strong performance in 2012 that included a 7.3% same-store sales increase, Nordstrom Inc. is investing heavily in its future. Two big areas of investment: online and expansion of the Nordstrom Rack outlet division, both in the United States and in Canada.
 
“Rack, direct and Canada will make up approximately half of our sales in the next five years,” Blake Nordstrom, president, Nordstrom Inc., said during the company’s quarterly conference call.  
   

Dublin, Calif. -- Epicor Software Corp. announced that Home Hardware Center, part of Central Network Retail Group, completed its integration of Epicor  Eagle in February 2013. It is Epicor’s first major installation of Epicor Eagle delivered in a software as a service (SaaS) hosted environment.

Deerfield, Ill. — Walgreens on Friday will open the doors to Walgreens University, an internal education center with technology-enhanced classrooms, a mock drug store and video-conferencing capabilities. The new learning center will be the base of operations for employee educational programs offered online and in regional locations nationwide.

Walmart overcame a meager 1% same stores sales increase at U.S. stores to deliver better than expected fourth quarter profits on Thursday.

The company said total sales increased 3.9% to $127.1 billion compared to $122.3 billion last year. Without the benefit of a favorable currency exchange situation, sales would have increased a lesser 3.7% to $126.8 billion. Full year sales increased by 5% to $466.1 billion compared to last year’s total of $443.8.

MENLO PARK, Calif. — As mobile commerce grows in popularity, the need for IT professionals is rising, according to a new survey about IT risk factors for 2013 published by global consulting firm Protiviti. The 2013 IT Priorities Survey (www.protiviti.com/ITsurvey), designed to help IT departments classify areas in need of attention in order to better execute the function's strategic mandate, found that IT executives are struggling to manage the wide variety of technology risk, regulatory compliance and performance challenges that now face them.

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway Inc. reported net earnings from continuing operations of $1.06 per diluted share for the fourth quarter which ended Dec. 29, 2012. This includes a $0.12 per diluted share benefit from legal settlements. When you exclude this benefit, earnings per diluted share is 94 cents. This represents a 58% improvement in earnings per diluted share over last year when the settlements are included and a 40% improvement when the settlements are excluded. 

ATLANTA -- Newell Rubbermaid announced it will reaffirm its fiscal year 2013 outlook, as provided in its fourth quarter 2012 earnings press release dated Feb.1, 2013, during its presentation Thursday at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York (CAGNY) conference.

The company’s guidance and key assumptions for the full year 2013 are as follows:

• Core sales increase of 2% to 4%.

• Net sales are expected to grow 1% to 3%