News

Shopzilla, a leading platform that connects 50 million retail shoppers monthly with online marketers, has consolidated three marketing-centric business units — Audience Discovery and Activation Services — under the Connexity brand name.

“Connexity will uniquely combine consumer insights and media buying within the same programmatic platform, helping marketers to learn more about their customers, discover valuable audiences, and activate new consumers at scale,” the company said in a statement.

While the mantra of “keep it simple, stupid” has long been a staple in the world of business, the message of the recent SAP Sapphire 2014 conference in Orlando could be summed up as “keep it simple, smart.” Speakers throughout the three-day event stressed how leading-edge technology allows enterprises to operate with a previously unavailable simplicity and flexibility, providing new and exciting capabilities.  Here are a few examples.

Jos. A. Bank continued the positive trend of increases in adjusted earnings that it saw in the second half of 2013. Comparable brand sales increased by double digits in the first two months of the first quarter, and despite slowing down after Easter, still resulted in an 8.4% increase.

Franklin, Tenn. — Overall, mobile technology has created a roughly $8 billion industry in retail/hospitality worldwide, with POS a major factor. According to a new study from IHL Research, “Mobile POS: Reaching Escape Velocity – All Systems Go,” tablet POS systems are growing at a more than 300% rate in specialty retailers compared to 2013 levels.

ShopperTrak, a leading global provider of consumer behavior insights and location-based analytics, has signed Journeys as its 1,000th customer. The milestone agreement aims to enhance the in-store customer experience at more than 1,000 North American locations of the specialty lifestyle retailer.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. — Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc. had a difficult first quarter of fiscal 2014, reporting a substantial decline in net income as well as drops in net sales and same-store sales. Net income declined 75% to $3.7 million from $15 million.

Wal-Mart Stores chairman Rob Walton, 69, announced the appointment of Greg Penner, 44, as vice chairman at the company's shareholders' meeting Friday morning, a move that positions Penner, Walton 's son-in-law, as his successor.

Commerce, Calif. and Herzogenaurach, Germany — At the recent SAP Sapphire 2014 conference, 99 Cents Only Stores and Adidas AG both detailed how they are using different SAP solutions in different ways for the same ultimate goal – increased accessibility and transparency of data.