Data & Analytics

New York City -- The California Supreme Court says merchants in the state can no longer ask credit-card customers for their ZIP codes, the Associated Press reported.

It was almost all good news for Advance Auto parts this week, as the company reported record fourth-quarter sales and profits. Fourth-quarter earnings per share increased 46% to 57 cents compared with 36 cents during the comparable period the prior year, and full-year profits rose to $3.95 from $2.83 the prior year.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Lowe’s personnel changes are becoming hard to keep up with.

QUINCY, Mass. -- The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company announced the special dedication of a 400 kilowatt fuel cell at its Torringford Street store in East Torrington, Conn. 

According to the company, the fuel cell, a UTC Power PureCell System Model 400, was supported with a grant from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund's On-Site Renewable Distributed Generation Program and is the first fuel cell utilized by the Stop & Shop Supermarket Company. It is expected to generate over 90% of the store's electric energy.

Irwin Tools, a leading maker of hand tools and power tool accessories based in Huntersville, N.C., has named Ross Porter as its new president. Porter has held a variety of positions during his 18 years at Newell Rubbermaid, Irwin’s parent company. He most recently served as president of EMEA Transformation, where Porter led the company’s European transformation efforts, including implementation of a new European business model, integration and implementation of SAP enterprise system, and relocation of its European headquarters.

Being supplied by 100% renewable energy sounded like a lofty goal when it was identified as one of Walmart’s top three sustainability priorities in late 2005, but as other retailers have demonstrated, it is an attainable goal.

A lack of visibility into Walmart’s sales performance coupled with concerns about the pace of a U.S. sales recovery is contributing to some apprehension on Wall Street regarding the company’s fourth-quarter performance.

Word out of Minneapolis this week courtesy of a Bloomberg story is that Best Buy plans to emulate Walmart’s pricing model in order to confront the issue of price transparency and simplify its operations. Smartphone wielding shoppers armed with price comparison apps have quickly changed how consumers shop and make purchases of highly considered items, such as those which dominate the product mix at Best Buy or in Walmart’s electronics department.

Wells Fargo retail analyst Matt Nemer put several leading retailers to the test this week with an innovative approach to research. According to Barron’s, he went on a $5,000 shopping spree on the websites of some of the largest Internet-only and traditional retailers. He said Amazon.com offered the best shopping experience, and he rated the retailer at outperform. Walmart.com, was said to have higher prices than Amazon’s, but had strong customer service and didn’t showed up as well in searches.

Quincy, Mass. -- The Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. announced it is using fuel-cell technology, at its store in East Torrington, Conn.

The fuel cell, a UTC Power PureCell System Model 400, was supported with a grant from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund's On-Site Renewable Distributed Generation Program and is the first fuel-cell utilized by Stop & Shop. It is expected to generate over 90% of the store's electric energy.