Data & Analytics

College Station, Texas -- The Center for Retailing Studies (CRS) at Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School has united with GameStop and IBM to found the GameStop Technology Institute (GTI), a consortium of technology corporations and academic institutions focused on discovering and delivering business innovation and technology solutions to better address the needs of today’s empowered consumer.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Sears is launching Now + Here, a fast fashion shop available in Sears stores across the country, on Sears.com and Shopyourway.com, in the second week of April. The Now + Here shops offer a new shop environment with monthly deliveries.

The fully integrated retail experience extends online with access to exclusive content, including behind the scenes videos and fashion tips.

Minneapolis – Senators John D. Rockefeller (D. - W.V.) and Richard Blumenthal (D. – Conn.) publicly criticized Target’s handling of its 2013 data breach during testimony by Target CFO John J. Mulligan in front of the Senate Commerce Committee, which Rockefeller chairs. The senators said that Target’s management did not pay attention to signals from its security software and that it is time for the retail industry to make changes.

Memphis, Tenn. – Fred’s Inc. reported a substantial 34.5% decrease in its net income during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013, to $5.56 million from $8.49 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Net sales declined 7.2% to $495 million from $533.4 million, and same-store sales grew 0.1%.

GameStop CEO Paul Raines remained optimistic about the company’s fourth quarter results, saying that the launch of new consoles in 2013 marked the return of innovation to the video game category and that the company’s market share increased to an all-time high.

New York -- By 2025, most retail lighting will be LED, or light-emitting diode, according to lighting expert Dr. Laura Priestwood Thompson, director of the TCU Center for Lighting Education, Texas Christian University.

“The majority of interior retail lighting in 2025 will be LED. This includes retrofitting and new construction,” Dr. Thompson told attendees as Chain Store Age’s 50th annual SPECS conference in Grapevine, Texas.

A week after it divested Lands’ End, Sears announced plans to launch Now + Here, a fast fashion shop available in Sears stores across the country, on Sears.com and Shopyourway.com, the second week of April. The Now + Here shops offer a new shop environment with monthly deliveries.

The move comes as the company continues to transform into a member-centric retailer leveraging Shop Your Way and integrated retail.

New York -- Social media sites are playing an increasingly important role in driving traffic to other websites, including retail websites and even other social networking sites, at the expense of search engines and portal websites, according to new research from Experian Research Services. As of March 2014, social media sites now account for 7.72% of all traffic to retail web sites, up from 6.59% in March 2013. Further, Pinterest, more than Facebook or YouTube, is supplying the greatest percentage of downstream traffic to retail sites.