Data & Analytics

Famous footwear may have generated record third quarter sales, but parent company Brown Shoe was unwilling to get too ambitious with holiday expectations given uncertainty it sees around promotional activity and consumer sentiment.

New York – Barnes & Noble employed cost-cutting measures that shifted net loss to net income for the second quarter of fiscal 2014 even as net sales took a tumble. Net income of $13.2 million compared to a roughly $502 million net loss reported in the second quarter of fiscal 2013.

Reston, Va. -- For the holiday season-to-date (Nov. 1 - 24), $18.9 billion has been spent online using desktop computers, up 14% versus the corresponding days last year, according to comScore. Tuesday, November 19 was the heaviest online spending day of the season to date at $963 million. Two other shopping days – Thursday, Nov. 14 and Sunday, Nov. 24 – have also seen at least $900 million in online retail spending.

The Woodlands, Texas -- Conn's, Inc. has completed an expansion and extension of its asset-based loan facility with a syndicate of banks.

LLamasoft, a leading global supply chain design software provider, has added Jeff Metersky to the company’s leadership team as VP of solutions strategy.

Metersky will have global responsibility for designing comprehensive supply chain design solutions made up of technology, services, support, education and training for future and existing LLamasoft customers. He will also help shape and guide LLamasoft product strategy.

Toronto -- RBC, Best Buy and Future Shop are partnering to offer a redemption option in Canada that provides clients access to more than 90,000 merchandise and electronic items, through the RBC Rewards online channel.

Online sales early this week were up nearly 12% from the equivalent Monday a year earlier. Data from the IBM Digital Analytics Holiday Benchmark shows that mobile traffic accounted for nearly 32% of all online traffic, up 42% compared to the same period last year.   

Columbus, Ohio – DSW Inc. experienced a successful third quarter of fiscal 2013, with net income and total sales both rising from the same period in the previous year. Net income equaled $55 million, up roughly 10% from $50.1 million, while total sales of $633 million were about 7% higher than $593 million.

In one negative result, same-store sales fell 0.7%. However, the retailer opened 16 new stores and launched new omni-channel initiatives.