Data & Analytics

WATERBURY, Vt. — Green Mountain Coffee Roasters has implemented several changes to its board of directors.

GMCR has elected Norman H. Wesley as its new chairman of the board and appointed former Kellogg Company head A. D. “David” Mackay as an independent director. Michael J. Mardy, who had previously served as interim chairman, will continue in his role as audit committee chair.

Framingham, Mass. -- Staples Inc. opened its new Velocity Lab, in Cambridge, Mass. The lab houses teams responsible for designing and implementing innovative new e-commerce and mobile solutions across Staples’ global business units.

The move is part of the office supply retailer’s recently announced strategic plan to accelerate growth by integrating its retail and online offerings and increasing investment in online and mobile capabilities to provide business customers with a seamless multichannel shopping experience.

The Saatchi & Saatchi X division of the Publicis Groupe named three new executives focused on digital media.

Springdale, AR.-based Saatchi & Saatchi X said it hired Alan Segal as digital creative director, Brandon Viveiros as digital production director and Chance Chapman as senior digital strategist.

Fort Mill, S.C. — Honeywell has introduced a next generation scanner said to offer retailers improved label reading properties and increase checkstand throughput.

Chicago -- E-commerce and digital marketing company Acquity Group announced Monday social media findings that revealed the vast majority of retailers don’t respond to customer tweets.
 
The 2012 Brand eCommerce Audit evaluated Interbrand's 2012 Best Retail Brands on customer engagement across major digital channels, including big browser, social and mobile.
 

Purchase, N.Y. -- A SpendingPulse report released Monday by MasterCard Advisors found that after a three-week recovery of retail spending growth that started two weeks after Superstorm Sandy and lasted through the week ending Dec. 1, a slowdown occurred in the week ending Dec. 8.  

After a surge in growth in late November some key sectors such as Specialty Apparel slipped into negative growth in early December, according to the report.

Jeremy Cage was named CEO of the global LED lighting firm Lighting Science Group.

Cage, 48, was selected to lead the company based on his experience in building major brands, his success in developing commercially-appealing technologies and bringing them to market, as well as his distinguished track record of strengthening business models and improving operational efficiencies, according to a statement by Lighting Science Group.

Cage replaces Brad Knight, who served as interim CEO while the board worked with an executive search firm. Knight will continue to serve as COO.

Anxiety over Amazon.com is at an all time high this holiday season and a top executive at Nordstrom shared insights recently on competing successfully.