Data & Analytics

LIVONIA, Mich. — Valassis, a provider of intelligent media delivery, has hired Silicon Valley innovator Rajat Shroff as VP product development for Brand.net, a Valassis Digital Company.

Consumer confidence in January fell to its lowest point since November 2011, according to the Conference Board.

The Conference Board’s index decreased to 58.6, down from a revised 66.7 in December. The figure was lower than forecast; Bloomberg predicted a median of 64.

The drop in confidence coincides with the 2% payroll tax increase used to fund Social Security.

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — Tractor Supply Company reported that net sales for the fourth quarter increased to $1.29 billion, or 3.7% over the prior year's 14-week period.

Same-store sales increased 4.7% compared with a strong 7.6% increase in the prior-year period.The same-store sales increase was driven primarily by continued strong results in key consumable, usable and edible (C.U.E.) products, principally animal- and pet-related merchandise.

Toronto -- Most retailers in Canada are ready for a phase-out of one-cent coins, a national retailing trade group said Wednesday.

The Retail Council of Canada said the majority of the country's retail businesses were prepared for the disappearance of the penny and will follow the government's proposals for determining prices.

Sunrise, Fla. -- Ikea on Wednesday officially plugged-in the solar energy system installed at its store in City of Sunrise, Fla. It is the largest solar installation in South Florida and, when combined with Ikea projects already completed atop stores in Orlando and Tampa, will make Ikea the state’s largest non-utility solar owner. 

Phoenix -- Cole Real Estate Investments announced it executed leases totaling 1,658,000 sq. ft. at Cole-related properties throughout 2012.  

The transactions included 390,000 sq. ft. of new leases and 1,268,000 sq. ft. of lease renewals, bringing Cole’s multi-tenant retail property occupancy rate to 97.7%.

Birmingham, Ala. -- Bayer Properties said Tuesday that Scott Laslo has joined the company as VP asset management. 

Laslo more recently served as VP/general manager and VP for Forest City Enterprises. His asset management role at Bayer will focus on value creation and oversight of the company’s growing portfolio of over 10 million sq. ft.
 

Chicago -- Automation and mass production will continue to make life easier in the years ahead, but consumers and companies will react by valuing – and promoting – human services and artisan goods. That’s one of the key trends research firm Mintel predicts will be impacting consumer behavior in the next five to 10 years.

As part of its lunch of Mintel Futures, a new program designed to forecast long-term industry trends, Mintel identified six key trends affecting the global consumer market in the near future:

Hampshire, United Kingdom -- The number of coupons redeemed through mobile and tablet devices is expected to reach 10 billion this year, up by more than 50% compared with last year, according to a new report from Juniper Research.

New York -- The Children’s Place and 1-800-Flowers.com have selected a social media management system from Sprinklr, an enabler of scalable social media management for companies. Sprinklr enables brands to be Social@Scale by engaging in a timely and relevant manner with their community from a single location, across multiple corporate functions, and in multiple social channels.