News

Study: Subscription retailers lead in average orders per year
New York – Subscription retailers outpace e-commerce retailers and flash sale businesses by a long shot when it comes to a customer’s average numbers of orders in the span of a year. According to analysis of more than 10 million orders from 2.5 million unique customers by Retention Science, subscription retailers average 7.68 orders per customer in 12 months.

In contrast, e-commerce retailers only average 2.36 orders per customer in 12 months, and flash sale retailers only average 1.41 orders in that time span.
Toys'R'Us targets the 'Blaze' craze
Toys”R”Us is looking to excite toy shoppers with an all-new assortment of toys from Fisher-Price based on the hit Nickelodeon show, “Blaze and the Monster Machines.”

The show features the heroic monster truck, Blaze, his 8-year-old driver, AJ, and many other characters helping preschoolers learn Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) concepts. The Toys line of road-ready vehicles, die-cast and plush are available only at Toys"R"Us stores nationwide and Toysrus.com, now through the end of July.

Old Navy sails ahead as other Gap brands sink

Surging sales at Old Navy helped Gap Inc. offset sales declines at its namesake division and its Banana Republic stores in the first quarter.

Gap Inc. reported that for the first quarter of fiscal 2015, Gap Inc.’s net sales decreased 3% to $3.66 billion compared with $3.77 billion for the first quarter last year.
Epicor spins off retail business

Austin, Texas – Epicor Software Corp. is spinning off its retail solutions business into a separate, privately held company, in partnership with funds advised by Apax Partners. Referred to as “SpinCo” until the transaction is finalized, the Epicor retail solutions business continues under the leadership of Noel Goggin, executive VP and general manager.
Ingles net income soars in Q2

Asheville, N.C. – A significant increase in gain from the disposal of assets helped boost net income 37% at Ingles Markets Inc. in the second quarter of fiscal 2015 to $14.3 million, from $10.5 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Lower gasoline prices helped reduce net sales 3% to $915.3 million, from $947.76 million.

Excluding gasoline, same-store sales rose 1.2%.
Amazon.com opens 2nd N.J. fulfillment center

Amazon.com is looking to facilitate its same-day deliveries in the New York City area by opening another 1 million-square-foot fulfillment center in New Jersey.
Coop Denmark to install Displaydata ESLs

Albertslund, Denmark -- Kvickly Supermarkets, part of Danish grocery retailer Coop Denmark, will implement Displaydata’s Chroma electronic shelf labers (ESLs) across 29 of its store locations. Coop Denmark, in partnership with Displaydata’s partner Delfi Technologies, has already implemented ESLs in more than 300 of its stores, including brands: Kvickly, SuperBrugsen, Dagli’ Brugsen and Irma.
ALDI hires dietitians to certify healthy foods

ALDI is trying to tap into consumers’ desires to eat healthier by putting a dietitian's stamp of approval on some of its foods.

The retailer is teaming up with nutrition experts to introduce "Dietitian's Picks" to its stores to help shoppers easily identify healthy choices and kick-start healthy eating habits at home.
Amazon opens second New Jersey fulfillment center

Seattle -- Amazon.com is opening its second one million-sq.-ft. fulfillment center in New Jersey, in the town of Carteret, as its looks to facilitate same-day deliveries in Manhattan.

Amazon opened its first one million-sq.-ft. fulfillment center in New Jersey, in Robbinsville, in July 2014. The company employs thousands of full-time employees at its Robbinsville fulfillment center and continues to hire to meet growing customer demand.
Tech Bytes: Three Disruption Insights from SAP’s Sapphire

The theme of SAP’s annual Sapphire conference, in Orlando, Florida, was “Run Simple.” SAP focused on how its HANA business intelligence platform and growing number of HANA-powered applications can assist companies with the complicated task of creating simple enterprises that run on real-time data.

However, underneath the SAP-specific information was a lot of more general insight into how IT is disrupting the way businesses operate and engage their customers. Following are three insights with particular relevance for retailers.