Data & Analytics

Fort Worth, Texas -- Buxton, a leading customer analytics firm, has named Charles Wetzel as its new CEO.

Wetzel, 35, started at Buxton in 2004 as COO. He assumed the role of president in 2008.

“Charles is the ideal candidate to assume the CEO post at Buxton,” said Tom Buxton, founder and chairman of Buxton. “He holds the right combination of analytical expertise and management needed to lead this company into the future.”

Purchase, N.Y. -- Retail growth in December sales was robust across many categories, further building on November’s positive results, with some performing at better than pre-recession levels, according to MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, which tracks national retail and services sales.

Reston, Va. -- Retail e-commerce spending for the entire November -- December 2010 holiday season reached $32.6 billion, marking a 12% increase versus last year and an all-time record for the season, according to comScore.

Chicago -- Year-over-year retail sales increased 6.5% for the week ending Jan. 1, according to ShopperTrak’s National Retail Sales Estimate, while the company’s Retail Traffic Index (SRTI) reported foot traffic rose 4.1% for the same period.

Redwood Shores, Calif. -- Oracle on Wednesday announced that it has completed the acquisition of Art Technology Group (ATG).

With the addition of ATG, Oracle can now provide best-in-class cross-channel CRM, Retail and Commerce that enables unified marketing, merchandising, service and order management, supply chain, and a seamless, personalized customer experience.

Matthews, N.C. -- Family Dollar Stores said Wednesday that its fiscal first-quarter profit climbed 9.9% on strong candy and food sales and higher customer traffic. The discounter reported net income of $74.3 million for the period ended Nov. 27, up from $67.6 million a year ago. Its results, however, were short of analysts expectations, with the disappointing profit attributed primarily due to lower gross margins and higher freight costs.

Deerfield, Ill. -- Walgreens reported on Wednesday that its December sales rose 7.5% to $6.8 billion. The chain said that Duane Reade stores, which Walgreens acquired in April 2010, contributed 2.5 percentage points.

Walgreens’ same-store sales for the month rose 2.8%

The company said front-end sales were up 9.5%. Pharmacy sales, which accounted for 58.6% of total sales for the month, saw a 6% boost.

During the month of December, Walgreens opened three stores, including one relocation, and acquired three stores.

Houston -- Datacert, a global provider of enterprise legal management solutions, announced that Walmart has selected Datacert's Passport technology platform, to help strategically manage the chain’s domestic legal processes and systems. In addition, Walmart will implement Datacert's matter management and spend management systems, which are built on Passport.

Natick, Mass. -- BJ’s Wholesale Club announced that Robert W. Eddy, senior VP, director of finance, has been named executive VP and CFO, and Cornel Catuna, BJ’s senior VP field operations, has been named executive VP club operations. These management changes will be effective on Jan. 30.

Natick, Mass. -- BJ’s Wholesale Club said Wednesday that its December same-store sales rose 3.8% and would have been up 1.4%, excluding the impact of gasoline sales. The results were short of analysts expectations. Separately, the company said it is shutting five underperforming locations by the end of January. as well as restructuring its home office and certain field operations. It is cutting 114 corporate-level jobs, 61 of them at the company's headquarters and 53 field positions.