News

Walnut Creek, Calif. – Retailers are most likely to use data for planning, but a majority of retailers do not have a long-term enterprise business intelligence (BI) strategy in place that meets their needs. According to a new study from RSR Research, “Retail Analytics Moves to the Frontline,” 57% of retailers think planning and executing more effectively is a top use of data, followed by managing customer relationships (47%) and reporting results of business activities (44%).

As always, the NRF Conference & Exposition went by in a blur, but looking back on three jam-packed days of industry insight and networking, a few trends kept coming up again and again. Seamless retail, full mobilization of customers and employees, and item-level RFID tagging stood out as topics of interest among exhibitors and attendees. Following are a few thoughts about each of these trends that will help shape the direction of retail in the year ahead.

Seamless Retailing – Moving Beyond Omni-channel

The back and forth between Jos. A. Banks and Men’s Wearhouse continues. This time the shoe is on Jos. A. Banks’ foot, as the company’s board of directors officially rejected an unsolicited buyout offer from the Men’s Wearhouse.

Jos. A. Bank called the offer, which expires March 28, 2014, and is worth $57.50 per share, or about $1.6 billion, “inadequate and opportunistic.”

Cincinnati – The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has granted early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (HSR) with respect to the pending merger transaction between The Kroger Co. and Harris-Teeter Supermarkets, Inc. The early termination of the HSR waiting period satisfies one of the conditions to the closing of the pending merger, which remains subject to other customary closing conditions.

Former Ulta Beauty CEO Lyn Kirby is reportedly part of a group that acquired Beauty Brands, a cosmetics chain based in Kansas City, Mo.

According to a Crain’s Chicago Business article, Kirby, along with a leveraged buyout firm in California, snapped up the majority stake from advertising executive and entrepreneur Robert Bernstein.

By Rosie Poultney, 89 Degrees

As businesses try to figure out how to best use all the extra information flooding in from the omni-channel world, segmentation is a hotter topic than ever. Looking back at our conversations with clients in 2013 on the best segmentation approaches to help build their businesses, some key themes stand out. Here are those five key points, each of which will continue to be important in 2014 and for many years to come:

1. One is Never Enough

Amazon has reportedly obtained a patent for “anticipatory shipping,” or a logistics technique using customer behavior and history to prepare items for shipping before they are actually ordered. According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon received the patent in December 2013.

New York -- Why do dark horse companies win -- and how do they win?

That topic is the focus of a new book by sales strategist and Elevation Forum founder Dan Mack: “Dark Horse: How Challenger Companies Rise to Prominence.” 

The best leaders and companies bring more than unique products or services to the market -- they consistently tap into the 10 key growth enablers Mack outlines in his book.