Data & Analytics

Under Armour is in the process of acquiring MapMyFitness, a fitness technology company powering one of the world's largest digital fitness communities.

Under Armour will leverage the fitness platform to expand its digital capabilities. MapMyFitness has one of the largest connected fitness communities in the world and offers a diverse suite of websites and mobile applications under its flagship brands MapMyRun and MapMyRide. Utilizing GPS and other advanced technologies, MapMyFitness provides users with the ability to map, record and share their workouts.

Nordstrom’s third quarter results were consistent with its full-year outlook. Strong direct sales growth and improving trends in the Rack mitigated softer sales trends in full-line stores.

The company’s Anniversary Sale, which is historically its largest sale event of the year, fell in the second quarter this year, rather than in the second and third quarters as it did last year. The estimated impact of this event shift increased earnings per diluted share in the second quarter but reduced them in this quarter by approximately $0.06.

In addition to opening stores at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving, Staples is extending Black Friday sales the entire week of Nov. 24 through Cyber Monday on Dec. 2.

The retailer’s Black Friday promotions include online daily deals changed on a daily basis, trade-in/trade-up technology recycling programs that give holiday shoppers cash toward to the purchase of a new product, and free shipping for members of the Staples Rewards loyalty program and on all purchases of more than $45.

Cabela's has launched an improved mobile website for customers using handheld devices or smartphones, just in time for the holiday season.

According to the specialty retailer, the site gives customers a seamless mobile shopping experience and offers the same information and services as the desktop version.

Von Maur got its start like many of its department store peers: An immigrant with an American dream opened a downtown store, customers came, they shopped, the brand took hold and took off.

In the case of the midwestern upscale department store banner Von Maur, the dreamer was German immigrant J.H.C. Petersen, who opened a downtown storefront in Davenport, Iowa, in 1872. He and his sons grew the business and sold it nearly a half-century later to a partnership that included two Austrian brothers — C.J. and Cable von Maur, whose family gained full ownership by 1937.

Here are some recommendations from Alan Dabbiere, chairman of AirWatch, for in-store mobility management:

• For corporate-shared devices, retailers should take into consideration how to reconfigure devices when they transfer from one employee to another.

Managing labor remains one of a retail company's biggest challenges — and most untapped opportunities. JDA Software's Scott Welty talks about workforce management trends with Chain Store Age.

What are some common mistakes retailers make when it comes to managing labor?

I visited my first Von Maur store in 1999, a decade after I relocated from southern boomtown Atlanta to Lincoln, Neb., a sleepy college town that only really wakes up on Husker football Saturdays. Today I am back home in Baton Rouge, La., still no bustling metropolis, but the food and football trump.