Data & Analytics

New York -- Duane Reade and Poncho, a personalized weather-forecasting service that sends users relevant weather updates tailored to their preferences via text or email, are teaming up in a pilot program targeted to the New York Metropolitan area consumer. Poncho users will receive their regular weather updates with select alerts featuring coupons for Duane Reade products that will help them battle the elements and their allergies.

Cranston, R.I. – During the 2013 holiday season, Alex and Ani turned to EBay Enterprise, an EBay Inc. company, to help drive sales and achieve higher ROI through its Facebook ads. Between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, the company’s Facebook ads drove $1.6 million

Shelton, Conn. – Executive consumers seek easier ordering when they shop online. According to a survey of 50 high-level executives who attended the Microsoft Dynamics Convergence Conference March 4-7 by EDI and e-commerce integrator Logicbroker, nearly three-quarters (72%) of respondents said that ease of ordering is the most important part of the online ordering process.

One-third (33%) said that better communication is the area that e-commerce companies have the most potential to improve.

Bad weather and a tepid economy claimed another retail victim on Thursday as family footwear retailer Shoe Carnival posted weak sales and profits.

The operator of 379 stores said sales during its 13 week fourth quarter ended February 1 fell to $200.3 million compared to $205.7 million during the 14 week fourth quarter the prior year. Same store sales declined 2.5%. Profits during the period fell more sharply to $600,000, or three cents a share, from $3.2 million, or 13 cents a share the prior year, as gross margins contracted to 28.5% from 29.3%.

Gigwalk, a leading provider of crowdsourced solutions to retailers and CPG companies, just surpassed the 500,000th member of its mobile workforce and celebrated the occasion by securing an additional $10 million in funding.

New York -- Net-A-Porter.com topped all competitors across all retail verticals for customer service in February, according to Stella Benchmarks. The retailer was particularly strong in fulfillment, besting all other retailers in both shipping and returns.

Net-A-Porter.com provided a pre-paid, adhesive return label in all orders handled by StellaService analysts. In addition, Net-A-Porter.com issued refunds in less than a week on average.

Grand Rapids, Mich. -- Meijer has added features to its mPerks program that allows customers to store digital receipts from purchases in a single place and details exactly how much they've saved by shopping at the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer. The new features are available for subscribers who enable the digital receipts option on their accounts and enter their mPerks ID each time at checkout.  

Burlington, N.J. – Burlington Coat Factory saw a 36% decline in its fourth quarter net income, which fell to $16.1 million from $25.3 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012. The retailer plans to open 25 net new stores during fiscal 2014, including 22 in the fall, two in May and one in April.