Data & Analytics

DURHAM, N.C. — Bashas’, a family owned and operated supermarket retailer in the western United States, recently installed energy-efficient LED lighting from Cree, to better illuminate its Tempe, Ariz., location.

The newly renovated store features luminaires powered by Cree TrueWhite technology, delivering superior light quality that helps make products more attractive to customers, while enjoying the benefits of a quick payback and an anticipated energy savings of 47% over the store’s previous design.

New York -- In an effort to expand its service capabilities, Lowe's has partnered with Porch.com, a home improvement network that connects homeowners with over 1.5 million professionals.

The partnership aims to connect customers with home improvement pros for nearly any project outside of what Lowe's currently offers as part of its installation services.

King of Prussia, Pa. -- Rigid technology can be a prohibitor in omnichannel growth, especially for mid-market retailers, according to a new study by eBay Enterprise. The report, 2014 Omnichannel Benchmark Study, found that that mid-sized retailers are behind their larger competitors in implementing omnichannel experiences and inflexible technology is the biggest factor in prohibiting retailer maturity and growth.

Other key findings include:

New York -- Sears Canada Inc. has entered into an arrangement with IBM to have the supplier take over the work currently performed at three internal Sears customer contact centers. The outsourcing move will take place over the next nine months and affect 1,345 employees.

By Gerard Loosschilder and Juan Tello, Skim

New York -- Usablenet, a leader in mobile and multichannel technology, has introduced U-Campaign, a new element of its U-Experience platform at allows marketers to plan, execute and easily manage mobile landing pages and campaign sites in real-time. Importantly, with the rise of responsive design as a development trend, U-Campaign provides the ability for marketers to create channel-specific campaigns within responsively designed websites for the first time.

New York -- SAP AG  announced the launch of SAP Shopper Experience a personalized and engaging retail mobile app that transforms the entire consumer shopping experience with social media sharing, loyalty programs and a self-payment system for shoppers.

SAP also released the latest version of the SAP Retail Store Ops Associate mobile app, which allows store associates to execute core merchandising, inventory and customer service functions directly from the shop floor without leaving a consumer’s side.

Despite severe winter weather travails during the holiday shopping season, the National Retail Federation reported that December retail sales didn’t take the hit that many feared.

In fact, taking advantage of heavy promotions and last-minute deals, shoppers were able to move the December retail sales needle up 0.4% month-to-month, excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, and up 4.6% year-over-year.