Data & Analytics

I visited my first Von Maur store in 1999, a decade after I relocated from southern boomtown Atlanta to Lincoln, Neb., a sleepy college town that only really wakes up on Husker football Saturdays. Today I am back home in Baton Rouge, La., still no bustling metropolis, but the food and football trump.

Robotics and smartphone app power Amazon vet's retail start-up

A Seattle-based retail start-up with an in-store backend robotic system and a smartphone app that rivals the convenience of an online shopping cart is generating big buzz these days. Founded and headed up by Nadia Shouraboura, former head of supply chain and fulfillment technologies for Amazon.com, Hointer combines the best of online and brick-and-mortar retailing to take the hassle out of shopping.

Naperville, Ill. -- OfficeMax on Tuesday reported a lower-than-expected profit, for its first profit, hurt by declining technology sales. Prior to its earnings release, the company also announced a special dividend of $1.50 per share.

OfficeMax's first-quarter profit available to shareholders rose to $56.3 million, from $4.9 million a year earlier. Sales fell 5.65% to $1.77 billion, while analysts expected $1.83 billion.

One hundred and forty one billion dollars. That's the estimated brand value of Walmart, according to Interbrand's "Best Global Brands" report. The annual study ranks the 50 most valuable U.S. retail brands, along with the top store brands in countries around the world.

The use of mobile devices by sales assistants and other associates presents retailers with new opportunities — and new challenges. Of the latter, one of the most critical has do with managing and maintaining the devices. According to one expert, the help desk can't be expected to do it all.

"Every device needs to be configured and supported and managed in some way," said Alan Dabbiere, chairman of AirWatch, a provider of mobile security and enterprise mobile management, in a presentation at the National Retail Federation Conference & Expo.

NAPERVILLE, Ill. — Declines in technology product category sales and decreased foot traffic at its stores affected OfficeMax’s results for its fiscal first quarter ended March 30, 2013. 

Ten years ago, demographic experts predicted a looming talent shortage: When the massive baby boom generation retired, the small Generation X would not have enough experienced leaders and managers to fill the positions that boomers would vacate.