Data & Analytics

Englewood, Col. -- The Sports Authority has appointed Paul M. Okimoto as the company’s new chief marketing officer.
 
Okimoto previously served as VP of marketing at RadioShack. He also held positions with the Nielsen Company as VP of corporate marketing and AT&T Wireless as head of integrated marketing communications.  
   

NEW ORLEANS — Discover has signed contracts with 50 merchant acquirers that will extend PayPal’s in-store acceptance to more than 2 million merchant outlets by the end of the year.

Eight months ago, PayPal announced its intention to create an innovative payment option that leveraged Discover’s payments infrastructure to provide PayPal’s more than 55 million active domestic account holders with access to millions of retail stores, restaurants and gas pumps.

Boca Raton, Fla. -- Office products retailer Office Depot reported a worse-than-expected first quarter net loss of $17 million, compared with net earnings of $41 million a year earlier, hurt by lower sales and costs related to its pending merger with OfficeMax. The company also said it would hold a special meeting with investors to seek approval for the merger.   

Los Angeles -- Mother's Day spending will be nearly flat this year as more Americans return to work and have less spare time, according to a new report by market research firm IBISWorld.

The report forecast a 0.2% rise in purchases on Mother's Day gifts this year over last year, for a total of $17.1 billion.

SAN FRANCISCO — Braintree, a payments platform for online and mobile commerce, has appointed Google Wallet co-found Rob von Behren as the company’s lead engineer for its San Francisco office. 

In his new role, von Behren will be charged with helping to advance Braintree's position in mobile commerce, including its one-touch mobile payment solution Venmo.

BOCA RATON, Fla. — The timing of the New Year and Easter holidays negatively affected Office Depot’s first quarter sales which declined 5% to $2.7 billion and led to a $17 million loss compared to a profit of $41 million in the first quarter of 2012. 

By Michael W. Maynard,

MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. — Kohl’s has opened a new IT office in the Silicon Valley to support its online sales growth and strategic focus on omni-channel initiatives, including process automation and the re-platforming of Kohls.com.

The 52,000-sq.-ft. office space in Milpitas, Calif., will be an extension of the IT team at the company’s Menomonee Falls, Wis., corporate office and will initially employ 30-plus Kohl’s associates with the potential to accommodate future growth, said the retailer.