Data & Analytics

Toronto - Opterus announced that specialty apparel retailer Roots Canada Ltd. has eliminated the use of e-mail at their stores and now remotely manages its 119 locations entirely through Opterus’ Store Ops-Center. Roots, which branded the solution Roots Ops-Center, has taken advantage of Opterus’ Web-based technologies to streamline business processes and improve communications with its stores.

Woburn, Mass. - Demandware on Monday announced that sunglass specialty retailer Solstice is taking its first step into the ecommerce arena by announcing the launch of its new online retail store www.solsticesunglasses.com built on the Demandware Commerce platform.

The new site mirrors the company’s upscale store design, combining clean sophisticated lines with the brands’ seasonal advertising campaigns. It offers more than 40 luxury, designer and sport sunglass brands,  with easy-to-navigate search options designed to make shopping easier.

New York - Visits to the top 500 retail sites increased 13% on Black Friday, according to data from Experian Hitwise. For the sixth year in a row, Amazon was the top retail site receiving traffic on Black Friday. Walmart was the second most visited retail site, followed by Target. But Target’s visits increased 13% on versus 2009, representing the biggest increase among the top five sites. The top 20 retail sites accounted for 61% of all visits among the top 500 retail sites.

New York - The holiday shopping season got off to a positive if unspectacular start, according to preliminary results from the Black Friday weekend.  The number of people who shopped at stores and online between Thursday and Sunday was up 8.7% to 212 million shoppers, according to a National Retail Federation survey of 4,306 shoppers conducted by BIGresearch. The total amount spent during the four-day weekend reached an estimated $45 billion, with the average spending rising 6.4% to $365.34, the survey showed.

New York - Wal-Mart Stores sees more opportunity in emerging markets than in Europe, the company’s International Chief Executive Officer, Doug McMcMillion, told Bloomberg.

“China is top of the list, and Brazil is not far behind” to make deals, McMillon said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “InBusiness With Margaret Brennan.” The retailer is being “patient” about finding the right way to expand in Russia, McMillon said.