Data & Analytics

Framingham, Mass. – The TJX Companies, Inc. reported increased net sales during first quarter fiscal 2014. Revenue rose almost 7% from the same quarter a year earlier to about $6.2 billion, while same store sales grew 2% on top of an 8% increase from last year. Net earnings totaled $453 million.

CEO Carol Meyrowitz said that a flexible business model allowed TJX to have a profitable quarter despite adverse weather conditions. “Flowing the right merchandise at the right time continued to be key to strong merchandise margins,” she said.

LOS ANGELES — Virtual Piggy, an online service that allows parents to monitor their children's online shopping behavior, is heading across the Atlantic for the first time.

The company has signed partnership agreements with Toy Galaxy and Toadstool in the U.K. to integrate the Virtual Piggy solution into both companies' e-commerce operations. 

San Diego – Tommy Bahama is employing the IT Service Automation Application Suite from cloud-based IT services provider ServiceNow to automate IT functions such as incident management, change management, problem management, configuration management database and service catalog. The specialty apparel brand is also using the SaaS-based Orchestrate solution from ServiceNow to streamline the hiring and training process.

PITTSBURGH — Although Dick’s Sporting Goods reported a year-over-year increase in revenues for first quarter 2013, performance still fell short of Wall Street expectations.

The sporting goods retailer reported first quarter revenues of $1.33 billion, a 4% increase from $1.28 billion. However, analysts expected revenues for the quarter to total $1.36 billion.

Net income grew 13%, from $57.2 million to $64.8 million.

Menlo Park, Calif. - Google will close down its Google Checkout online payment service for good in November of this year. The online service and technology provider says the move is part of a broader transition to its Google Wallet multichannel commerce platform.

MINNEAPOLIS — Store closures and a shift in this year’s Super Bowl affected Best Buy’s results for the 13-week period ended May 4. 

Matthews, N.C. – Family Dollar presented its annual Strategic IT Partner of the Year award to Trade Area Systems at its IT Strategic Partner last month. In September 2012, Family Dollar implemented the Trade Area Systems TAS Unity solution to give real estate managers mobile access to a database of real estate photos, comments and other relevant data.

San Francisco – Target opened a new Technology Innovation Center in San Francisco, on May 20. The center, located in shared space with the digital marketing agency SapientNitro, employs about 20 people, including some shared SapientNitro employees. Target will use the center to develop mobile and e-commerce services, allowing it to better compete with online-savvy rivals such as Amazon.com.