Data & Analytics

Framingham, Mass. -- IDC Retail Insights on Wednesday released a new survey report, “Business Strategy: At Hand Versus In Hand — Will Consumers Have the Upper Hand in the 2012 Holiday Showroom Showdown?,” which found that 48 million shoppers will “showroom” or use their smartphones in some manner while they shop in stores during the upcoming winter holiday season.

A new relationship with Citi Retail Services gives OfficeMax another benefit to tout when serving small business customers.

The retailer worked with Citi to launch the new store-branded credit card tied to the OfficeMax MaxPerk Rewards program which allows customers to receive a $25 reward for every $500 spent on qualified purchases. In addition, the no-annual fee product provides special financing offers, flexible payment options a dedicated line of credit for business expenses and detailed tracking of purchases.

Vince Bove was named SVP and chief marketing officer at Reflect, a Dallas-based provider of software for digital signage networks at some of the nation’s leading retailers.

In his role as SVP, Bove will be responsible for business development and sales in the central and western United States.　In his capacity as chief marketing officer, he will assist Reflect clients with insightful shopper engagement strategies for their brand at the point-of-sale, and help them utilize the capabilities of the Reflect product line.

Toronto -- Sears Canada Inc. reported Tuesday a loss of $21.85 million, compared with a loss of $44 million in the same period last year.

Revenue dropped 6.8% to $1.04 billion, and same-store sales slid 5.7%.

New York -- Survey results released Tuesday by Accenture found that half of U.S. consumers are likely to make a small luxury purchase in the next six months, including 53% who are likely to purchase specialty food or drinks, 48% to purchase luxury clothing and 48% to purchase luxury personal care products.

Louisville, Colo. -- Video provider Envysion said Monday that chicken chain Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen has completed deploying the company's Envysion Insight solution to all corporate owned restaurant locations.

Popeyes will use Envysion's video-driven business intelligence in its 40 company-operated locations to improve loss prevention efforts, optimize operations and drive restaurant-level profitability.

Los Angeles -- Survey results released Tuesday by PriceGrabber found that 71% of consumers believe that retailers offer better deals during Thanksgiving weekend than they do during the rest of the winter holiday shopping season, up from 58% in 2011.

When consumers who indicated that the best deals can be found over the Thanksgiving weekend were asked which days retailers offer the best prices, 71% said Black Friday (Nov. 23), down from 80% in 2011 and 86% in 2010, and 41% said Cyber Monday (Nov. 26), up from 37% last year and 33% in 2010.

Atlanta -- Jones Lang LaSalle released a forecast suggesting that shopping centers will be pulling out all the digital stops this holiday season to engage and interact with consumers to influence purchasing decisions.