News

Naperville, Ill. – OfficeMax is speeding up the process of customer segmentation with Monetate LivePredict, an automated segment discovery product designed to automatically identify valuable customer segments and their attributes. Using LivePreict, OfficeMax intends to identify, at the brand and campaign levels, highest and lowest-performing segments.

New York -- A group of 11 large U.S. retailers that report same-store sales results each month had a generally strong showing in July. However, Thomson Reuters analysis indicates significant discounting helped drive an overall 4.4% increase, more than double the 1.4% same-store sales rise recorded in July of last year.

AT&T has transformed its store in LaGrange, Ill., to a new look that the company is rolling out at new and redesigned stores nationwide. Focused on the customer experience, the store is designed to create a more interactive and inviting store environment. Many of the elements (design and merchandising) were introduced at AT&T’s flagship on North Michigan Avenue in Chicago.

By Ted Vaughan, [email protected]

The year 2012 was the best year for retail IPOs since 2002 — S&P Capital IQ reported seven offerings for the year — and when we released our 2013 IPO Outlook Study earlier this year, 30% of capital markets executives expected initial public offerings (IPOs) in the retail and consumer products space to continue to grow in 2013. Now that we’re well into the second half of the year, how have those expectations fared?

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Strong sales in linens, dresses and intimate apparel buoyed Stein Mart’s total sales for the second quarter ended August 3, which increased 3.8% to $290.9 million from $280.4 million for the same quarter last year. 

The company posted a comparable-store sales increase of 6.4% for the quarter. 

ISSAQUAH, Wash. — Costco Wholesale Corporation reported net sales of $7.87 billion for the month of July, the four weeks ended August 4, an increase of 7% from $7.36 billion during the similar period last year.

For the 48 weeks ended August 4, the company reported net sales of $94.91 billion, an increase of 8% from $87.7 billion during the similar period last year.

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in July 2012 versus July 2013 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains. Walmart continues to see large increase in page count year-over-year, alongside Fred Meyer and Lowe’s this month. In contrast to Lowe’s, Home Depot saw a 44% drop in page count versus last year.

FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. — The Wet Seal Inc. reported net sales of $137.2 million during the second quarter of fiscal 2013. Despite seeing a 1.5% increase from the second quarter of the previous year, results fell a bit short of the $138.5 million analysts had estimated.

NEW YORK — Ralph Lauren Corporation has elected David Lauren, the company’s EVP of advertising, marketing and corporate communications, to its board of directors. His election brings the number of directors on the company’s board to 13.

San Francisco, Calif. — RichRelevance, a cloud-based platform and omnichannel personalization solutions provider, has appointed Zach Koekemoer as the company’s CFO. 

Koekemoer has 20 years of experience working at high-growth technology companies, having held executive positions at technology innovators including iPlay, Industrial Origami, WageWorks and @Road. In his new role, he will oversee and lead all aspects of the company’s financial operations as RichRelevance positions itself to rapidly expand across all lines of business.