Data & Analytics

St. Louis — Build-A-Bear Workshop narrowed its second-quarter loss to $6.2 million from $7.5 million in the year-ago period, boosted by improved sales and store productivity.

Total revenues were $81.9 million , up 1.9% from the $80.4 million reported in the second quarter of 2012.  Same-store sales rose 7.3%, including an 8.6% increase in North America and 1.7% increase in Europe. E-commerce sales rose 5.2%.

Canton, Mass. — Dunkin’ Brands Group, parent of Dunkin’ Donuts, beat Wall Street expectations by more than doubling its second-quarter profit. The company reported a profit of $40.8 million for the period ended June 29, up from $18.5 million a year ago. The year-earlier period included a $20.7 million increase in a litigation reserve.

Revenue increased 5.9% to $182.5 million from $172.4 million. U.S. same-store sales rose 4% at Dunkin' Donuts shops and improved 1.6% at Baskin-Robbins shops.

Menomonee Falls, Wis. – Bernstein Liebhard has filed a securities class-action complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of all those who purchased shares of Kohl's Corp. between Feb. 26, 2009. and Sept. 13, 2011.

By combining offers with other retailers or entities, retailers can avoid being victimized by the “adverse selection” of consumers who simply look for the largest discount they can find at a given time, Alex Rampell, CEO and co-founder of offer-based payment platform TrialPay, told attendees at the recent Retailer Roundtable event sponsored by digital gifting platform CashStar.

“Offering a massive discount just gets people to go elsewhere for a bigger discount,” said Rampell. “Those consumers do not develop into loyal customers.”

NEW YORK — Colgate-Palmolive saw a boost in second-quarter net sales as its global market share in toothpaste and manual toothbrushes hit record highs year-to-date.

Net sales for the quarter totaled $4.35 billion, up 2% compared with the year-ago period. 

Net income, which included charges related to its restructuring program, totaled $561 million, or 60 cents per diluted share, for the quarter. This compares with net income of $627 million, or 65 cents per diluted share, in the year-ago period.

New York -- Five individuals have been charged with running a sophisticated, worldwide hacking organization that the U.S. Department of Justice called the largest hacking and data breach scheme ever prosecuted in the United States. The victims in the scheme included such retailers as J.C. Penney, 7-Eleven Inc., Carrefour and Hannaford Brothers Co. 

While the mobile phone serves as a lens to a personalized store experience, moving forward, wearable technologies like Google Glass will take in-store personalization to the next level, Steve Arthur, head of retail industry for Google, told attendees at  the Retailer Roundtable event, sponsored by digital gifting platform provider CashStar. Arthur cautioned that retailers must realize they must deliver consumers the experience they need, rather than what they want, and be prepared for a post-PC world. 

Leading payments processor Vantiv cited strength in its e-commerce business as a key driver of a second quarter performance that saw revenues increase 11% to $519.4 million and profits on an adjusted basis increase 21.6% to $82.7 million, or 40 cents a share. Vantiv said its e-commerce business grew by 38% during the second quarter.