Skip to main content

Budgets/Spending/Market Size

  • Home Depot raises guidance on strong Q3

    Atlanta -- The Home Depot reported net earnings of $1.4 billion for the third quarter of fiscal 2013, up 48% from $948 million in the same quarter of the prior fiscal year.  The retailer raised its 2013 forecast for the third time this year amid rising home prices.

    "Our third quarter results reflect the continuing improvement in the housing market and our solid operational performance," said Frank Blake, chairman & CEO.

  • Survey: Most holiday shoppers will spend same or more as last year

    Yonkers, N.Y. -- Two-thirds of shoppers will spend the same amount of money (54%) or more money (12%) than they did last year. A new Consumer Reports poll also reveals that 33% will spend less money, similar to the 37% who said the same when asked last year.

  • Poll: Slightly fewer consumers buying toys this year

    New York -- Half of Americans (50%) say they will be purchasing toys as gifts this holiday season. This is slightly down from the 52% of U.S. adults who said they were purchasing toys last year, according to results of a new Harris Poll.

  • Poll: Retailers expect shoppers earlier this year

    North Plainfield, N.J. — Levin Management’s annual pre-holiday retail sentiment survey has found that retailers expect consumers to begin their holiday shopping sooner this year. Specifically, Levin said that 43.3% of responding retailers believe that holiday sales will peak prior to and during the Thanksgiving/Black Friday weekend sales period.

    Only 13.5% believe that sales will peak later — during the weekend before Christmas, a significant drop from last year’s 29.2%.

  • Study: October non-cash consumer spending growth rises from September

    Atlanta -- Dollar volume growth in credit, signature debit, PIN debit, EBT, closed-loop prepaid cards and checks at U.S. merchant locations in October 2013 was 6.8%, an uptick from the prior month’s growth of 5.3%. First Data Corporation’s First Data SpendTrend analysis shows the growth was supported by the onset of cooler temperatures, which drove sales of seasonal merchandise and early holiday advertising attracting shopper foot-traffic.

  • Survey: More than half of Americans prefer general purpose gift cards

    New York – More than half of Americans (53%) prefer general purpose gift cards as opposed to branded gift cards. In addition, new survey data from Bankrate.com shows that almost two in three Americans have given a gift card, and more than three in four have received one.

    The most common value of gift cards, both given and received, is between $25 and $50. People older than 65 and those between 18 and 29 years old are the least likely to give a gift card. As income level increases, Americans are more likely to give and receive gift cards.

  • NRF forecasts 140 million customers over Thanksgiving weekend

    Washington, D.C. -- Up to 140 million people plan to or will shop over this Thanksgiving weekend (Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday), a slight decrease from the 147 million who planned to do so last year. According to a new survey from the National Retail Federation (NRF), Black Friday will be the biggest day of the weekend: 69.1% plan to shop on Black Friday, or approximately 97 million shoppers.

  • E-commerce eats into Thanksgiving weekend crowds

    New research from the National Retail Federation sheds light on how 140 million Americans plan to shop during the Thanksgiving weekend.

    According to a new survey from the National Retail Federation, Black Friday will be the biggest day of the weekend: 69.1% plan to shop on Black Friday, or approximately 97 million shoppers.

X
This ad will auto-close in 10 seconds