Data & Analytics

By David Coleman, CEO and founder, Brandoogle

According to a recent IBM report, retailers should no longer feel threatened by the practice of retail showrooming. Agreed, and also great news for traditional brick-and-mortar retailers.

Retail showrooming is a known margin killer.

Cincinnati – Intelligrated is launching the Intelligrated OLS shuttle system, an automated storage and retrieval solution designed to provide quick access to individual cartons, totes and trays in a minimal footprint for high-volume distribution, fulfillment and manufacturing environments.

Dutch physicist Niels Bohr wasn’t talking about the retail industry when he said, “prediction is very difficult, especially about the future,” but the comment couldn’t be more relevant given the volatility facing the retail industry.

The idea of customer purchases being limited to brick-and-mortar stores faded long ago. Digital technologies, such as the Internet and mobile devices, and evolving shopping channels have made it difficult to distinguish what is and is not a “store.”

Birmingham, Ala. – Net income and sales declined at Hibbett Sports Inc. during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013. Net income dropped 13% from $19.6 million in the fourth quarter of the prior fiscal year to $16.4 million, while net sales inched upward 0.2% to $217.8 million from $217.4 million.

Same-store sales rose 1.7% during the quarter. Hibbett Sports cited slowing sales in January due to inclement weather and a less favorable sales impact from the national college football championship game as impacting net income.

Retailers are not giving shoppers the omnichannel experience they desire, according to new research from Accenture and Hybris, creating a huge opportunity for those able to successfully execute against elevated digital expectations.

New York -- Organizational, operational and technology challenges are hampering retailers' efforts to meet customers' demand for a seamless shopping experience across all channels and touchpoints. According to a new research study from Accenture and Hybris Software, retailers view omni-channel maturity as a key brand differentiator for their companies, and improving their ability to provide customers with a seamless shopping experience across all channels as a top priority.

When preventing the type of data breaches that have recently gotten the names of several major retailers in the news for all the wrong reasons comes up, the discussion focuses almost exclusively on what type of technology should be employed to prevent them. IT is certainly a cornerstone of any retailer’s data security defense, but as explained in a Tech Boot Camp session at Chain Store Age’s 50th annual SPECS conference, a dose of common sense also goes a long way toward preventing unwanted visitors from entering your company’s network.