Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

Uncertainty among the upcoming presidential election is not dampening holiday sales outlooks.   Indeed, retailers need to be ready to present their holiday best as U.S.-based retail performance over the November through December holiday period is expected to see a 3.2% year-over-year (YoY) lift in sales. This jump is driven partly by a 14.9% increase in YoY sales through digital channels, according to new data from RetailNext.  

Brick-and-mortar retailers such as Walmart and Best Buy are not only surviving online, but are thriving due to their sizable physical assets and digital investments.   That’s one of the main findings of a new report by Moody's Investors Service, which says that while Amazon keeps raising the stakes online and has a decade-plus advantage over other retailers in e-commerce, it still faces intense competition from the likes of Walmart and Best Buy, who are raising the bar online for other physical merchants.   

In case you missed it, a national Higher Ground Moral Day of Action took place Monday at 30 state capitols across the country and in Washington, D.C. An organization of national and local progressive faith leaders called Moral Revival planned the events to deliver their "Higher Ground Moral Declaration." They called on politicians at all levels “to move away from extremist politics and policies that benefit the few and move toward policies and laws that are just and fair and guarantee a better life for the majority of the people.”

The waning popularity of golf has taken its toll on the nation’s largest specialty golf retailer.

Golfsmith International Holdings Inc. on Wednesday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, amid increasing debt and citing a strategy that it launched several years back to open bigger, most costly stores at a time when golf was beginning to decline in popularity. (Just last month, Nike last month announced it was leaving the golf hardware business, its worst-performing division. Adidas is selling its golf equipment business. )

The first generation to grow up online — Gen Z— is also poised to rank as the most demanding consumer group in history.

That’s according to a new report from Fung Global Retail & Technology, which warns that retailers, restaurants and leisure companies will have to adapt to the wants and needs of Gen Zers (refers to those born in 2001 and later.

Despite an increase in digitally-influenced retail spending, a gap still remains between retailers and digital shoppers.

Digital interactions influence 56 cents of every dollar spent in retail stores, totaling $2.1 trillion by the end of the year – up from 14 cents of every dollar in 2013, according to Deloitte's new study, “The New Digital Divide: The Future of Digital Influence in Retail.”

The holiday shopping frenzy has begun, and it is shaping up to be more digital than ever.

Summer has barely said goodbye, but consumers nationwide have already turned their attention to the holidays. In fact, nearly one third of consumers, and nearly half of parents, began holiday shopping before Labor Day.

Traditional retailers who think the digital tide can be turned back are deluding themselves, according to the consulting firm’s fourth annual “New Digital Divide” report. With Facebook and Google playing host to hours of commercial interactions with consumers on a daily basis, the classic retail brand’s ability to guide the path to purchase is waning.

North American real estate owners and developers ratcheted up their green profiles markedly this year, though they still lag global trendsetters, according to the latest results of an annual sustainability study.   In GRESB’s annual environmental assessment of real estate developers and investment trusts, North American companies averaged a score of 59 out of a possible hundred, a five-point rise from last year and just shy of the global average of 60.  

The real retailer winners are those that truly “listen” to their customers, and then use learned details to motivate consumers to shop.   By perfecting this practice, Amazon.com has earned the highest amount of mentions and awareness across social networks, and Tiffany & Co. was the most passionately and positively discussed brand.