Data & Analytics

New York City -- The Conference Board Employment Trends Index, released Tuesday, showed a decrease in September to 100.95, down from the revised figure of 101.37 in August. The September figure is up 4.4% from the same month a year ago.

Toronto, Ontario -- Web-based task management and store communications provider Opterus said Tuesday that Total Wine & More has implemented Opterus Store Ops-Center to manage tasks and projects and to obtain valuable feedback from their stores.   

Los Angeles -- Retail marketing firm Creative Channel Services said Tuesday that electronics retailer Conn’s will utilize the company’s CyberScholar digital platform to increase retail associate knowledge of home appliance and consumer electronics products.

With the Creative Channel solution, Conn's employees have direct access to product information from multiple manufacturers via the Internet or over the retailer's intranet system.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores said Tuesday it will launch a “My Local Walmart” Facebook application, which will allow more than 3,500 Walmart stores to interact direct with their local customers and some 9 million total Facebook fans.

The "My Local Walmart" Facebook application will provide locally relevant information on everything from new products and sales information, to details on in-store events.

Boca Raton, Fla. -- Office Depot said Tuesday that three of its stores hold the top spots for retail energy efficiency gains at the midpoint of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star National Building Competition.

Dallas -- Tuesday Morning Corp. reported Tuesday that net sales for the quarter ended Sept. 30 edged down 1.2% to $170.7 million, compared with $172.8 million in the year-ago period.

Same-store sales for the period declined 4.1%, comprised of a 5.2% decrease in traffic offset by a 1.1% increase in average ticket.
 

By Mark Friedman, [email protected]

Jamie Egasti was named CEO of Catalina Marketing Corp. and will join the firm’s board of directors. Egasti previously served as CEO of The Folgers Coffee Company and president of global snacks and coffee at Procter & Gamble. Egasti replaces Catalina co-founder George Off, who has served as interim CEO and a member of the company’s board of directors since May, 2011.

The NPD signed a point-of-sale cooperation agreement with Sam’s Club, the Wal-Mart Stores division, to receive and analyze sales information from Sam’s Club U.S. clubs and SamsClub.com.

Under the agreement, NPD will receive point-of-sale data from Sam’s Club, increasing NPD’s tracking coverage for clubs and e-commerce and providing its clients with a more robust view of market activity in these channels. NPD will also become Sam’s Club’s primary provider of point-of-sale and consumer panel information in the General Merchandise categories.

The relaunch of Target.com did not go as smoothly as the retailer and its customers would have like judging from the persistent backlash a month and a half after the site went live. Ad Age piled on last week with a piece about how friction between marketing and technology teams contributed to a wide range of functionality and customer service issues.