Data & Analytics

San Jose, Calif. -- Tech-savvy shoppers overwhelmingly look for ways to use smartphones and the Internet to save time and money while shopping in stores, according to new research from Cisco.

New York -- Stage Stores said Thursday that its fiscal third-quarter loss widened as some expenses rose. The company cut its fiscal 2013 adjusted earnings forecast.

The department store retailer lost $11 million for the period ended Nov. 2, compared to a loss of $8.9 million.

Revenue declined 3% to $360.2 million, from $370.6 million. Same-store sales fell 4.6%.

Selling, general and administrative expenses climbed to $98.6 million from $92.5 million during the quarter. Interest expense increased to $718,000 from $568,000.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holdings widened its loss in the third quarter as sales decreased at both its Sears and Kmart units.

For the three months ended Nov. 2, Sears lost $534 million, down from a loss of $498 million a year earlier.

Revenue fell 7% to $8.27 billion from $8.86 billion mostly because it had fewer Sears and Kmart stores operating.

Same-store sales dropped 3.1%, and were down 4% at Sears' stores and declined 2.1% at Kmart stores.

Minneapolis -- Target Corp.'s third-quarter net income fell 47%, hurt by costs related to its Canadian expansion. Its adjusted profit beat analysts' estimates, but sales fell short. The retailer lowered its full-year adjusted earnings forecast.

For the three months ended Nov. 2, Target earned $341 million, or 54 cents per share, down from $637 million in the year ago period. Removing Canada-related expansion costs and other items, earnings were 84 cents per share.

Staples has named Tom Conophy as EVP, chief information officer, overseeing all aspects of Staples’ global IT organization. He will report directly to Ron Sargent, Staples’ chairman and CEO, and will serve on the Staples executive committee.

New York -- MasterCard Advisor’s latest MasterCard Spending Pulse survey found that there are some product categories that won’t see the biggest spending uptick on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

The monthly SpendingPulse report anticipates that the biggest shopping day of the season for jewelry and luxury retailers will be Dec. 21 – the last Saturday before Christmas, which is becoming commonly known as “Super Saturday.”

Increased customer traffic helped drive Dollar Tree’s third-quarter results. The retailer cited growth in consumer basics as well as seasonal and variety merchandise, and said its higher margin variety categories are growing at a faster pace.

The company reported consolidated net sales for the quarter of $1.9 billion, a 9.5% increase from $1.72 billion for the year-ago quarter. Comparable store sales increased 3.1%.

Washington, D.C. -- More than 60% of consumers will start holiday shopping on Black Friday and most will spend more than 50% of their holiday budget over the Thanksgiving weekend, according to research by the Georgetown Institute for Consumer Research, sponsored by KPMG.