Data & Analytics

BARCELONA — At Mobile World Congress, MasterCard introduced MasterPass, a digital service that allows consumers to use any payment card or enabled device to discover enhanced shopping experiences that are as simple as a click, tap or touch – online, in-store or anywhere.

Dublin, Calif. -- Epicor Software Corp. announced that Home Hardware Center, part of Central Network Retail Group, completed its integration of Epicor  Eagle in February 2013. It is Epicor’s first major installation of Epicor Eagle delivered in a software as a service (SaaS) hosted environment.

President and CEO of Walmart Global eCommerce, Neil Ashe, made a cameo appearance during Walmart’s fourth quarter earnings presentation to shed light on omnichannel investments that caused the company to forecast 2013 profits below analysts’ estimates.

Walmart’s forecast first quarter earnings in the range of $1.11 to $1.16 and full year earnings in the range of $5.20 to $5.40. Embedded in those numbers are huge investments in ecommerce that will cost the company about nine cents a share.

Deerfield, Ill. — Walgreens on Friday will open the doors to Walgreens University, an internal education center with technology-enhanced classrooms, a mock drug store and video-conferencing capabilities. The new learning center will be the base of operations for employee educational programs offered online and in regional locations nationwide.

Salt Lake City -- Overstock.com said Friday it has named Stormy Simon and David Nielsen as co-presidents of the company.

Simon was previously SVP over customer and partner care and, with the promotion, will add oversight of warehouse logistics, press relations, social media and strategic marketing.  
 
Nielsen, promoted from SVP merchandising and supply chain, will add oversight of international sales, talent management and information technology.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens on Friday will open the doors to "Wag U," an internal education center replete with technology-enhanced classrooms, a mock drug store and video-conferencing capabilities. The new learning center will be the base of operations for employee educational programs offered online and in regional locations nationwide. 

New York -- On the heels of a strong performance in 2012 that included a 7.3% same-store sales increase, Nordstrom Inc. is investing heavily in its future. Two big areas of investment: online and expansion of the Nordstrom Rack outlet division, both in the United States and in Canada.
 
“Rack, direct and Canada will make up approximately half of our sales in the next five years,” Blake Nordstrom, president, Nordstrom Inc., said during the company’s quarterly conference call.  
   

WASHINGTON — The Lenovo ThinkPad T430s topped TopTen USA's list for energy-efficiency.

The nonprofit group, appaluded he fact that the laptop uses only 7.4 kilowatt hours of electricity in a year of typical use. The average comparable model uses 28 kWh per year—almost 4 times the energy.  On average, TopTen-listed laptops use about half (48%) the energy of comparable models.