Data & Analytics

Chicago -- Year-over-year retail sales rose a solid 4% for the 2010 holiday shopping season (November/December), according to ShopperTrak’s National Retail Sales Estimate.

Conversely, total U.S. foot traffic fell slightly below expectations as consumers continued the pattern retailers saw throughout 2010 of fewer mall and individual store visits with a larger spend. ShopperTrak’s revised holiday forecast called for a 1.8% traffic increase.

Chelmsford, Mass. -- Kronos said Monday that fashion accessory retailer Charming Charlie has selected Kronos’ end-to-end workforce management solution to sustain growth, increase productivity and improve employee retention.

Charming Charlie selected the time and attendance, forecasting and scheduling, hiring, labor analytics and human resources and payroll applications from Kronos.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- A 2.3% same-store sales gain at Kmart was not enough to offset a 6% decline at Sears resulting in an overall 1.7% decline for the combined companies domestic operations during the five week December reporting period ended Jan. 1.

Ask retail operations executives what their priorities are, and the answer comes down to the two T’s: Talent and Technology.

At the National Retail Federation’s Annual Convention & Expo, experts discussed how they are positioning their companies to for the economic comeback and the efficiencies learned from the downturn.

Fort Mill, S.C. — According to the latest “Mobile POS Survey” commissioned by Honeywell and conducted by Harris Interactive online in December, consumers are accepting of a mobile checkout offering at retail -- 50% of those who have tried mobile checkouts believed it saves time and 43% like the convenience of paperless receipts delivered via e-mail.

Chicago -- Year-over-year retail sales rose a solid 4% for the 2010 holiday shopping season (November/December), according to ShopperTrak’s National Retail Sales Estimate.

Conversely, total U.S. foot traffic fell slightly below expectations as consumers continued the pattern retailers saw throughout 2010 of fewer mall and individual store visits with a larger spend. ShopperTrak’s revised holiday forecast called for a 1.8% traffic increase.

Dallas -- SAF AG said Monday that Roller, a German furniture discounter, will utilize SAF RetailSuite Store software to create automatic orders to optimize the replenishment process and regain valuable time for customer service.

The company signed a license agreement and will use the solution across its 100 stores in Europe.

MINNEAPOLIS — There were three takeaways to come out of Supervalu’s third-quarter analyst call Tuesday morning: the deep discount banner Save-A-Lot will be the most significant catalyst for growth going forward; Supervalu aggressively is addressing pricing issues that have had consumers who are more accustomed to the “hi” in the grocer’s "hi-lo" pricing strategy shopping elsewhere; and while traditional Supervalu banners ACME, Shaw’s and even Jewel-Osco do not have a “For Sale” sign on their respective front lawns, a