Data & Analytics

Oak Brook, Ill.-based Ace Hardware launched Instant Savings, a program for Ace Rewards members that allows them to receive instant discounts at the register.

“We have made it even easier for our customers to shop with Ace by delivering more value and convenience for them,” said John Surane, senior VP, merchandising, marketing, advertising and paint. “We constantly look for ways to add value for our customers, and Instant Savings is a major new exclusive benefit to our Ace Rewards loyalty program that does just that.”

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Coinstar, a leading provider of automated retail solutions, has appointed its current CFO J. Scott Di Valerio as new CEO, effective April 1. At that time, Di Valerio will also be appointed to the Coinstar board of directors.

Di Valerio succeeds Paul Davis, who is retiring on March 31, and will remain a member of the board until then.

Di Valerio has been CFO at Coinstar since 2010, and has overseen Coinstar's corporate information technology and supply chain functions.

Deerfield, Ill. -- Walgreens reported Friday that sales for the month of December dipped 4% to $6.71 billion, from $6.99 billion in the year-ago period.
 
Total front-end sales fell 1.3% and same-store front-end sales decreased 2.3%.
 
Total same-store sales fell 6.1% in December.

As I prepare to pack my bags for New York to spend a few days in the NYC office and attend the National Retail Federation’s “Big Show” held at Javit’s Center from Jan. 13 to 15, I feel compelled to bring up this point about the annual NRF convention: it isn’t just for techies.

By Craig Szklany, cszklany@tycoint.com and Mark Stier, mstier@tycoint.com
 

SEATTLE — Amazon.com has entered into a content licensing agreement with A+E Networks to add prior seasons of series from A&E, Bio, History and Lifetime to the Prime Instant Video service.

Prime Instant Video now features more than 33,000 movies and TV episodes for Amazon Prime members to stream instantly, at no additional cost, on Kindle Fire HD or any of the hundreds of compatible Amazon Instant Video devices, including iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Roku, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and the Wii U.  

New York -- A shift in the New Year's holiday calendar and the introduction of new generic drugs contributed to a decrease in same-store sales for the month of December at Rite Aid, the retail pharmacy chain said Thursday.

Rite Aid reported a 2.2% decrease in comps for the four-week period that ended Saturday, including a 1% decrease in front-end comps and a 2.9% decrease in pharmacy comps.

Total sales for the four-week period decreased by 2.7%, to $2.054 billion, compared with $2.112 billion in December 2011.

An annual holiday e-retail satisfaction report produced by analytic's firm ForeSee showed a slight deterioration in Walmart’s satisfaction score during the holidays.

Amazon.com, LLBean.com and QVC.com were the top three retailers on ForeSee’s Annual Holiday E-Retail Satisfaction survey while Walmart.com fell in the middle of the pack.