News

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.

Mobile shopping, same-day delivery, and growing volumes of data from online channels are forcing retailers to a tipping point to remain competitive and better respond to evolving customer needs and preferences, according to a new research report by Capgemini Group.
 

Walldorf, Germany — SAP AG plans to acquire SeeWhy, a Boston-based provider of cloud-based behavioral target marketing solutions. SAP intends the addition of SeeWhy to complement its Hybris commerce platform with one-to-one personalized marketing based on real-time customer behavior that converts customer interactions into sales.

Toronto, Canada — Loblaw Companies Ltd. and LoyaltyOne's Precima merchandising/marketing solutions provider are renewing and expanding their long-term engagement. Precima has been working with Loblaw for a number of years with a focus on developing and executing customer-centric merchandising and marketing strategies.

U.S. retailers reported 5% year-over-year growth in general merchandise, apparel, furniture and other (GAFO) retail sales. According to monthly figures from in-store retail analytics provider Euclid, shoppers made fewer trips to the store than expected, but were very engaged and showed a lot of intent to buy.

Euclid also reported 7% growth year-over-year in clothing and apparel sales and 2% growth year-over-year in general merchandise sales. Shopper traffic declined 11% compared to the same month last year, as travel plans appeared to cannibalize leisure time.

Portland, Ore. — Between 60 and 80% of mobile device users commonly allow mobile location-sharing, with an average location opt-in rate of 62%. According to a study from mobile relationship management software provider Urban Airship, 51% of mobile device users also opt into push notifications.

Opting into both location and push notifications are necessary in order to receive messages based on beacon proximity, current location or location history.