Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

Express Inc. cut its annual profit forecast as the chain struggled with declining sales and weak store traffic in its second quarter.   The retailer reported net income of $10.1 million for the quarter ended July 30, short of Wall Street expectations, down from $21 million, in the year-ago period.   Revenue fell 6% to $504.8 million, also below Street forecasts. Same-store sales, which include online sales, fell 8%, which was worse than analysts expected.  

Consumers expect to spend the same or less on holiday gifts this year.   That’s according to Berkeley Research Group, whose 2016 Holiday Retail Outlook report also identified five major challenges facing retailers as they head into the holiday season.  

Back to school sales appear to be rebounding this year after experiencing sluggish growth over the past three years (2013-2015).   That’s according to First Data’s Back-to-school SpendTrend report, which is based on aggregate same store sales activity in the First Data point-of-sale network.   Some of the most significant findings include:  

Back in January, Dick’s Sporting Goods launched Team Sports HQ in an effort to capture the nation’s lucrative youth sports league business. Today the company announced the purchase of the tech to get it there.  

Three-quarters of Hispanic shoppers in the U.S. will make back-to-school purchase in stores, but which ones will be strongly influenced by their mobile marketing offers.   A survey of 500 Hispanic consumers conducted by mobile ad platform Retale found nine out of 10 saying they’d be using their smartphones to shop and that their dollars would be put toward the best deals.  

If online retail didn’t exist, 1.2 million more people would be working in the retail industry.   Online productivity is that much higher, according to J.P. Morgan Chief U.S. Economist Michael Feroli. He told MarketWatch that revenue per online employee is four times greater than the brick-and-mortar variety: $1,267,000 to $279,000.

Groupon, One Kings Lane and ModCloth have the top-rated mobile apps in the retail industry.   That’s according to a study conducted by Application Resource Center, which analyzed data taken from 1.2 million user reviews posted on the Apple and Google Play app stores for 50 retailers. (The retailers were reviewed represented the retailers with the most mobile app sales in 2015.)  

Consumers cooled their spending in July.

Shoppers are opening their pocketbooks for back-to-school spending this year.   Parents expect to spend an average of $1,642 on back-to-school expenses this year, up significantly from $1,239 in 2015, according to the American Express Spending & Saving Tracker report.   Parents are expected to spend more on musical instruments this ($267 vs. $194 in 2015), along with mobile devices ($172 vs. $125 in 2015).   

Self-service checkout technology, including dedicated lanes and smartphone apps, may translate into an increased shrinkage rate for retailers.   That’s according to a study of retailers in the United States, Britain and other European countries conducted by the University of Leicester in England, the New York Times reported.