Black Friday Weekend Recap From Planalytics
November 28, 2022
Mother Nature served up a cornucopia of weather supporting traffic into Shopping Destinations over the Holiday Weekend Regional Trends featured cold conditions in the West, milder in the East. The Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekend (November 24 – November 27) featured a variety of changeable conditions. Bitter cold in the East from earlier in the …
A warmer October could force lead to steeper discounting for some UK retailers
November 8, 2022
The Evening Standard highlighted how UK retailers battled sales headwinds in October as warmer temperatures slowed demand for seasonal merchandise. In the article (“Retailers forced to discount winter wear as mild weather continues”), the writer reports that “Met Office figures suggest that last month was the seventh warmest October since records began in 1884, and …
Forrester: 2023 Technology Spending Needs to Deliver Business Value
November 3, 2022
In a Forbes article entitled “How Will Technology Spending Deliver Business Value In 2023?” the research firm Forrester discussed key themes for IT investment heading into the new year. Forrester writes “Despite some mixed economic signals and various business challenges around the world, technology executives must approach the 2023 planning cycle with a growth mindset. …
RSR’s New Report Highlights Retailer’s Perspectives on AI
October 28, 2022
Retail Systems Research (RSR) have published their 2022 Benchmark Report “Artificial Intelligence in Retail: What Now?” The report provides a wealth of interesting insights and shows how retailers are pursuing opportunities in artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning (ML) and how their priorities have evolved since the 2020 RSR Benchmark. The report is extensive covering …
Halloween Outlook From Planalytics
October 24, 2022
Warmer Temperatures Boil and Bubble in the Central and East, Colder Thrills and Chills in the West Mother Nature Throws a Variety of Weather in her Cauldron this Halloween The spooky season is finally here, and consumers are ready! As Halloween falls on a Monday, a large amount of consumer purchasing will take place during …
Predictive Analytics: A Key Ingredient to QSR Success
October 12, 2022
“Why AI and ML are Key Ingredients for Quick-Service Restaurants”, an article posted on QSR, outlined several areas where machine learning insights and predictive analytics can offer operational improvements, financial benefits, and competitive advantages to businesses. The article starts with “Despite the surge in takeout dining since the start of the pandemic, the quick-service restaurant …
Getting more from your digital marketing investment
October 7, 2022
A Harvard Business Review article entitled Closing the Gap Between Digital Marketing Spending and Performance looks at how businesses can optimize their marketing returns. “Marketers know that digital marketing represents the future of their business. That’s why, according to the February 2022 edition of The CMO Survey, they’re happy to allocate 57% of their budgets to digital marketing activities …
Earning More by Wasting Less
October 4, 2022
The Retail Bulletin reported on an interesting approach to waste reduction initiatives being pursued by a major food retailer. Tesco ties top executive bonuses to slashing food waste by half covered the UK retailer’s announcement. The article stated that “…Tesco will be aligning executive pay performance targets to key sustainability measures, including reducing food waste… …
Retail Impacts to Watch for as Energy Costs & Inflation Pressure Europeans
September 23, 2022
From London to Berlin and capitals across Europe, governments and the media are sounding the alarm regarding the difficult winter ahead. With inflation already elevated and the war in Ukraine raging on, consumers across the continent are preparing for much higher heating costs and potential limits to energy usage. With energy demanding a greater percentage …
“Which City Has the Most Unpredictable Weather?”
September 14, 2022
“Which City Has the Most Unpredictable Weather?” is an article published on FiveThirtyEight that takes an interesting look at weather volatility across metro areas across the U.S., considering the unpredictability of temperatures, precipitation, and severe weather for each location. Based on FiveThirtyEight’s scale, Rapid City, SD secured the top spot for the “Unpredictability Index” with …