Data & Analytics

Fort Worth, Texas -- Pier 1 Imports reported Thursday that second-quarter profit rose to $16.6 million, from $14.4 million a year earlier, matching Wall Street expectations.

Sales for the quarter increased 9.6% to $339.6 million, compared with $309.9 million in the year-ago quarter. Same-store sales increased 10.8%, boosted by higher traffic and average-ticket numbers.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada -- Safeway and Wegman’s Food Markets ranked highest across all customer service elements, according to a survey by Empathica.

Empathica, a customer experience management solution-provider, polled more than 16,000 consumers, and found that operations and merchandise were the two most important elements in grocery shopping versus other elements such as promotions, people and technology.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target's just-released Missoni collection resonated so well with consumers that the demand for the line lead to the crashing of Target's website on Tuesday. Various newspapers reported that the collection was flying off the shelves of stores, and that some stores were sold out within minutes.

Target posted a note on its website : "Woof! We are suddenly extremely popular. You may not be able to access our site momentarily due to unusually high traffic. Please stay here and we'll try to get you in as soon as we can!"

WASHINGTON — Retail sales for the month of August were flat, the U.S. Census Bureau disclosed on Wednesday.

Adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, sales totaled $389.5 billion. Compared with the year-ago period, however, sales rose 7.2%. Trade sales edged up slightly by 0.1% from July, as well as 7.5% above August 2010.

SEATTLE and NEW YORK — While the threat of having to collect state sales tax still looms, Amazon.com continues to find new revenue sources. The company announced Tuesday that it will become the largest third-party seller of Hearst magazine subscriptions through an expanded agreement with Hearst Corp. Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN - News) and Hearst Corporation today announced that the two companies have entered into an expanded, multi-faceted consumer marketing, e-commerce and content relationship.

VENTURA, Calif. — Patagonia., a designer and distributor of technical outdoor clothing, has announced the appointment of Dmitri Siegel as the company's new VP global e-commerce, effective Sept. 12.

As VP e-commerce, Siegel will provide strategic vision, leadership, and operational expertise in directing Patagonia's e-commerce strategies both domestically and abroad, the company reported. 

BURLINGTON, N.J. — Burlington Coat Factory reported that total sales for its second quarter increased 8.9% to $793 million and comparable-store sales were up 4%.

For the year-to-date, total sales rose 6.1% to $1.8 billion and same-store sales climbed 2.1%.

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands — Ahold has announced the appointment of Jeff Carr as EVP and CFO, starting Nov. 12. Carr will be a member of Ahold’s corporate executive board, pending shareholder approval. He will succeed Kimberly Ross who is leaving Ahold in November to become CFO of Avon.

Carr will be responsible for Ahold’s finance, real estate and IT functions. He will also manage the company’s existing €350 million cost reduction program and explore further ways to reduce costs and simplify the business.

Dallas -- J.C. Penney Co. will unveil the newest iteration of its store model with the opening of its new Dallas store in the TimberCreek Crossing shopping center on Sept. 30.

The 105,000-sq.-ft. single-level store provides an assortment of services under one roof, including dedicated in-store environments for MNG by Mango and a 1,700-sq.-ft. Sephora shop.

Springfield, Mass. -- Big Y Supermarkets plans to get rid of self-checkouts in all of its 61 stores by the end of 2011.