Data & Analytics

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Pier 1 Imports reported significant gains in fourth-quarter and full-year comps due to increases in average ticket, conversion and traffic. 

The company reported that comparable-store sales for the fourth quarter ended Feb. 26 increased 8.9% compared with last year’s comparable-store sales increase of 6.5% for the fourth quarter ended Feb. 27, 2010. Total sales for the quarter improved to $427 million compared with  $396 million in the year-ago quarter. 

CINCINNATI — Kroger on Thursday beat analysts’ quarterly consensus, posting 46 cents in earnings per share (adjusted for a goodwill impairment charge) that exceeded consensus by 2 cents EPS with higher-than-expected identical-store sales lift of 3.8% (excluding fuel).

Same-store sales were particularly strong across natural food, bakery and deli/meat, Kroger chairman and CEO David Dillion told analysts during a conference call. “We were particularly pleased by sales growth in our drug and merchandise departments,” Dillon said.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Ever grab a shopping cart and think about the hundreds of hands and millions of germs that have touched it? Winn-Dixie Stores has, and the company announced that it recently signed an exclusive agreement with Green Secure Solutions Inc. to use its patent-pending process to clean, sanitize and protect shopping carts, hand baskets, handicap carts, food trays and other equipment at the grocer’s 484 stores.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Overstock.com announced that it won two 2011 Stevie Awards for sales and customer service, in the following categories -- Customer Service Department of the Year, Retail and Sales Department of the Year, All Other Industries.

Now in its fifth year, the Stevie Awards selected winners in 40 award categories honoring achievements, individuals, teams and departments by industry in the sales field and 25 award categories honoring individuals, team and departments by industry in the customer service/contact center awards field.

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Bi-Lo has developed and launched its own nutritional tagging system that identifies healthful attributes in particular foods.

The retailer said the system features a wide range of categories established by Bi-Lo’s registered dietitian, Monica Amburn. Amburn said the system allows customers to create positive attitudes about healthy eating.

The tags highlight such benefits as "low sodium" or "an excellent source of vitamin C," as well as gluten-free and organic products.

Costco and BJ’s were out with quarterly results this week following the release of Sam’s Club results last week that included flat operating profits and a 2.7% same-store sales increase excluding gas. Those results, characterized by Sam’s Club president and CEO Brian Cornell as strong and very pleasing, are consistent with results out this week from club competitors. Both Costco and BJ’s reported quarterly results that were in-line with or beat analysts’ expectations.

Topeka, Kan. -- Collective Brands, the parent company of Payless ShoeSource, said Wednesday that its net loss narrowed slightly in the fourth quarter as sales improved in its wholesale unit. The performance beat Wall Street expectations.

For the three months ended Jan. 29, Collective Brands lost $10.1 million, compared with a loss of $10.9 million in the year-ago period.

SAN DIEGO -- ShowUhow Inc., developer and provider of on-demand, video-based Product Guides, has appointed Anthony Wyatt to EVP sales and marketing.

Wyatt will be responsible for leading the sales and marketing initiatives at ShowUhow and is challenged to drive the company to its next strategic milestones. He will be leading a national sales strategy for the ShowUhow team to target leading product manufacturers and top retailers.

Former IBM engineers Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver are among this year’s inductees into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

The duo is credited with developing the first optically-scanned bar code after overhearing a conversation in which a food executive expressed a desire to capture more product information at checkout.

Thanks to the Internet, a lot of what passes for news these days is a report based on a report based on a report with few if any filters in place to verify the accuracy of information. With that qualification in mind, Bloomberg this week reported that Walmart’s market share in China declined to 7.5% in the fourth quarter of 2010 compared to 8.2% in the second quarter. The news agency said its report was based on a report in the English language Shanghai Daily newspaper whose report was based on a report from a market research company identified as CTR.