Data & Analytics

By Lynn Burkhart Jr., [email protected]

NEW YORK — Good customer service sells, according to a new study conducted by American Express.

NEW YORK — Wal-Mart Stores said that by the end of the year it will have invested the equivalent of approximately $756 million to expand its operations in Brazil.

Marcos Samaha, president of Wal-Mart's Brazilian subsidiary, said in a Tuesday statement that 1.2 billion reals ($755 million) will be used to build 80 stores, renovate existing locations and improve logistics.

PITTSBURGH — Giant Eagle is celebrating its locally and regionally grown produce with a new multimedia video.

The retailer said that it is taking several steps to educate consumers on which fruits and vegetables at their peak season throughout the year and is further relaying this message through its multimedia video, which can be viewed on Giant Eagle's website.

On average, across the retailer set, number of inserts decreased slightly while the number of pages increased on a year-over-year basis for the month of April. When reviewing front page category share of voice, candy experienced a strong increase in April 2011 compared with the same month in the prior year. This is no surprise as Easter fell later in the month in 2011, giving retailers the opportunity to advertise this category for more weeks throughout the month than in 2010. Other categories with notable increases in 2011 versus 2010 include household cleaning, digital TVs and toys.

New York City -- The unemployment rate in April edged up to 9.0%, compared with 8.8% in March 2011.

Construction employment was about unchanged in April, according to Friday's report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This industry has shown little net movement since early 2010, after having fallen sharply during the prior three years.

Overall, the economy added 244,000 jobs in April, a higher gain than anticipated by analysts.

Rockville, Md. — Mike Jackson was named to the board of directors of iControl Systems USA where he will also serve in the capacity of senior advisor to iControl president and CEO Tal Zlotnitsky. Jackson is a 30-year veteran of Supervalu veteran who retired from the company in late 2009 as president and COO.

New York City -- For the second month in a row, Best Buy had to tell customers that their email addresses were compromised.

The chain said that a former business partner’s files containing email addresses of some Best Buy customers were accessed without authorization. Best Buy said it would take legal action but it did not name the vendor involved.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Whole Foods investors got some big news today, not only did the company report that sales for its second quarter rose 12% to $2.4 billion, it announced that is changing its trading symbol to WFM from WFMI effective May 6.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Big Lots reported that sales for its first quarter ended April 30 were $1.2 billion, a decrease of 0.5% compared with $.22 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2010.  Comparable-store sales for stores decreased 3.6% for the first quarter of fiscal 2011.