Data & Analytics

Armonk, N.Y. -- IBM announced Wednesday that jewelry chain Signet Jewelers has teamed with IBM on a major e-commerce strategy and digital marketing redesign for Signet's national U.S. store chains, Kay Jewelers and Jared the Galleria of Jewelry.

The initiative has resulted in consistent sales growth, including a year-over-year increase of 49% in online sales as reported in the company's recently announced holiday sales for fiscal 2013.

New York -- Jerry McDougal, retail VP for Apple Inc., will be leaving the company, according to a Wednesday report by Bloomberg.

He will be replaced by Jim Bean, a VP in Apple’s finance division.

Company spokesman Steve Dowling told Bloomberg that Bean will be an apt replacement for McDougal, who served under former CEO Ron Johnson for many years.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — Staples has promoted SVP of business services John Burke to SVP, chief culture officer, a newly created role.

Burke will be charged with leading global efforts focused on building Staples’ culture and for driving improved associate engagement. He will champion Staples’ approach to ethics, environmental sustainability, community relations and diversity and inclusion. Burke will also serve as president of the Staples Foundation, the company’s nonprofit philanthropic organization.

TAMPA, Fla. — Sterling Payment Technologies, a leading national payment processor, has appointed Jeffrey Akeson to executive director of third party/ISO sales.  

Sterling Payment Technologies is a customer-focused payment processor which provides merchants with a complete range of electronic payment services, including credit, debit, PIN debit, fleet, gift card and proprietary rewards and loyalty programs. The company combines POS technology and value-added merchant solutions.

DAYTON, Ohio — Stratacache, a leading provider of scalable, high-performance digital signs, content distribution and video acceleration technologies, has unveiled a Web caching solution at the National Retail Federation's Annual Convention and Expo.

Called Retail Cache, the solution enhances Web browsing, so customers can use in-store tablets to check out catalogs or order out-of-stock merchandise, without encountering slow, unreliable Internet connectivity.

Atlanta – Predictix announced that Crate and Barrel is implementing a broad suite of planning solutions from Predictix, including merchandise financial planning/merchandise financial management, assortment planning and item planning.

The Predictix solutions are being deployed across all Crate and Barrel brands — Crate and Barrel, CB2 and The Land of Nod — and will go live this quarter as part of a strategic plan to optimize the retailer's planning processes.

BALTIMORE, Md. — Barcoding, Inc., a leader in the automated data collection market, has promoted Shane Snyder to president. He succeeds Jay Steinmetz, who founded the company and remains the company’s CEO.

As president, Snyder will direct Barcoding’s day-to-day business operations and lead expansions into traditional markets.

New York -- Total holiday retail sales increased 3% to $579.8 billion, below the National Retail Federation s projected forecast of 4.1%. Non-store holiday sales grew 11%, below the 12% growth forecast by Shop.org. (The NRF sales figures exclude automobiles, gas stations and restaurants.)

“For over six months, we’ve been saying that the fiscal cliff and economic uncertainty could impact holiday sales. As the number shows, these issues had a visible impact on consumer spending this holiday season,” said Matthew Shay, CEO, NRF.