Data & Analytics

The Container Store posted a better than expected profit performance during its first quarter as a public company but offered a full year outlook analysts found underwhelming.

Soft sales at leading home goods retailer Bed Bath & Beyond led to a puny comp increase of 1.3%, lower than expected third quarter profits and a downward revision to fourth quarter expectations.

While the vulnerabilities of Target's data systems were exposed during a recent data breach the company’s data centers were being hailed as a model of energy efficiency by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program.

Efficient Collaborative Retail Marketing on Wednesday unveiled the ECRM Data website, ECRMData.com. ECRM Data is an industry solution that offers turnkey solutions for promotional tracking and analysis functions.

Leading specialty store retailer The Limited is working with analytics firm First Insight and had good things to say about how the tech company is impacting business at it 262 stores.

“By using First Insight to identify more winning products and price them correctly, our business will continue to increase its speed to market with the right styles at the right price”, said Diane Ellis, CEO of The Limited.  “The accuracy and scalability of the First Insight platform will drive our expanded approach to value delivery, including pricing and promotion.”

As the clicks and bricks went head-to-head in retail’s all-important holiday season, the “clicks” had already won the 2013 race to build new warehouse and distribution facilities. Winning the overall retail race is quickly becoming about being first from dock to doorstep and satiating customer’s hunger for insta-delivery. This means having the right infrastructure, particularly supporting facilities, in place.

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in December 2012 versus December 2013 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains. Last year, Home Depot did not run any circular promotions for the month of December and instead chose to coast on Web and email promotions. These electronic offers featured 50%-off promotions, as well as one-day-only sales. Although this online-only behavior was not repeated, Web and email remained Home Depot’s main focus: a short circular with a four day duration was run on Dec. 1 with a Cyber Monday theme.

ChannelAdvisor, a leading provider of cloud-based e-commerce solutions, has appointed Diana Semel Allen as VP and general counsel. In her new role, Allen will oversee the company’s worldwide legal functions, including regulatory compliance, commercial affairs, mergers and acquisitions, litigation and intellectual property management.