Data & Analytics

New York -- Shoppers are in a good mood heading into the holiday season, with the number of consumers planning to spend less on the holidays (37%) at the lowest level since 2006, according to Deloitte's 27th annual survey of holiday spending intentions and trends. One-half (50%) of consumers surveyed expect the economy will improve next year, up from just one-third (33%) heading into the holiday season last year.

New York -- Barnes & Noble said it has detected tampering with PIN pad devices that are used in 63 of its stores. Upon detecting evidence of tampering, which was limited to one compromised PIN pad in each of the affected stores, chain discontinued use of all PIN pads in its nearly 700 stores nationwide by the close of business on Sept.14.
 
In addition, the company notified federal law enforcement authorities, and has been supporting a federal government investigation into the matter.
 

Washington -- Free shipping offers will abound this holiday season, according to Shop.org’s eHoliday survey conducted by BIGinsight. Nine in 10 (89.7%) retailers plan to offer some form of free shipping for online shoppers. When asked which promotions they will emphasize most heavily during the holiday season, 37.5% plan to offer free standard shipping with conditions (e.g. minimum purchase), and three in 10 (30.0%) will offer free standard shipping without conditions.

New York  -- Jones Group Inc. reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by a rise in sales of shoes and jeans to U.S. department stores, which helped make up for a big  drop in business at its own stores.
  
Third-quarter revenue slipped 0.7% to $1.035 billion as sales at the company's U.S. stores were down 6.7%.
   

New York -- Wal-Mart Stores said on Wednesday that various staff groups involved in compliance and legal issues will soon all report to its general counsel, Reuters reported. The move comes as the retailer works on coordinating efforts after an alleged foreign bribery scandal.

In a memo sent by CEO Mike Duke, the retailer said that starting on Dec. 1, its compliance, ethics, investigations and legal units will become one organization under executive VP, general counsel and corporate secretary Jeff Gearhart.

Dallas -- A survey released Tuesday by Chase Paymentech, a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase & Co., found that online companies are expecting the 2012 holiday shopping season to be better than last year.

According to the Chase Paymentech eHoliday Shopping Monitor, 59% of e-commerce companies surveyed expect better sales volume this season than in 2011, while almost half (47%) expect it to be better than pre-recession levels in 2007.

Redwood Shores, Calif. -- As part of a larger initiative to upgrade the customer experience and localize offerings in its 640 stores nationwide. The Finish Line will roll out new Oracle Retail merchandising, planning, stores and CRM solutions. The athletic-goods retailer is leveraging Oracle’s cloud computing services in the process.

The Finish Line will use the integrated retail systems to tailor offerings to customer and regional preferences.  

Fort Worth, Texas -- RadioShack Corp. reported Tuesday a wider-than-expected loss of $47 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a profit of $300,000 for the same period last year. Sales dropped from $1.03 billion to $1.0 billion and same-store sales dropped 1.6%.