Data & Analytics

Record downloads of its app and North American revenue growth have Groupon feeling good about mobile initiatives and its ongoing evolution from a provider of daily deals via email to a full bore e-commerce marketplace.

Washington, D.C. – The National Retail Federation calculated retail industry job gains at 37,600 in October 2013, and 295,000 year-over-year, a 2.4% increase from 2012. Job gains were seen in every retail sector with the exception of clothing and clothing stores, which witnessed a contraction of 12,500 positions in September.

In its annual holiday sales and employment forecast, NRF predicted that retailers would see a 3.9% increase in sales and hire an additional 720,000 to 780,000 employees this holiday season.

The five year old Green Works brand from Clorox is facing new competition on the natural products front following the launch of Walmart’s Great Value Naturals cleaning products.

Walmart said the introduction of Great Value Naturals furthers its commitment to making eco-friendly products more accessible and affordable and will be available in more than 2,000 stores and online.

Clorox introduced its Green Works brand in early 2008 and the line was prominently featured in Walmart promotional vehicles at the time.

Ashburn, Va. — One Loudoun Downtown, a joint venture of Miller and Smith and North America Sekisui House, has announced the opening of a 23,800-sq.-ft. The Fresh Market.

One Loudoun is a 358-acre master planned community in Loudoun County, Va., that includes 1,040 homes, 702,000 sq. ft. of retail, a luxury hotel and three million sq. ft. of office space.

The Fresh Market currently operates 144 stores in 26 states.

Leiden, Netherlands – Ikea is deploying a standardized, comprehensive and internationally deployed POS software platform from Wincor-Nixdorf. During the next two years, Ikea will install nearly 12,000 POS terminals at 300 stores in 25 countries using Wincor Nixdorf’s TP Application Suite and TP.net software.

Five new members were named to the board of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association this week, an organization focused on the interests of social media marketers.

The Word of Mouth Marketing Association, or WOMMA, was founded in 2004 and the newest members of the group’s board include: Mark Bisard, vp and senior counsel of American Express; Christine Morrison, group Social media manager for Intuit; Kathy Baughman, president and co-founder of ComBlu; Patti Regan, president and CEO of The Regan Group and Emily Bader, EVP of strategic planning  Zocalo Group.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Sears Holding Corporation is launching a number of enhancements to the in-store, online and mobile customer experience offered at its Sears and Kmart banners for the holidays.

Employees and Shop Your Way loyalty members are loading photos, announcing secret sales and sharing their favorite products from local Kmart and Sears stores on the local store pages of ShopYourWay.com. Store pages also allow customers to download e-coupons and obtain local deals.

Reston, Va. – U.S. desktop-based e-commerce sales grew year-over-year to $47.5 billion during the third quarter of 2013, marking the 16th consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and 12th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. In addition, newly released comScore data shows that e-commerce spending on smartphones and tablets added $5.8 billion for the quarter, up 26% from year ago, for a total digital commerce spending total of $53.2 billion in the third quarter.