Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

Anyone who is a dad, or sells products dads like, may be in for a happy Father’s Day.

According to a new survey from the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insight and Analytics, consumers say they will spend more than ever on Father’s Day in 2016 (Sunday, June 19). Shoppers are expected to spend an average $125.92 for the holiday, up 9% from the prior year’s $115.57. Total spending is expected to reach $14.3 billion, the highest in the survey’s 13-year history but still below the 2016 Mother’s Day total of $21.4 billion.

When it comes to customer experience, home improvement shoppers have established a long-term favorite.

Ace Hardware ranks highest in customer satisfaction with home improvement retailers for a 10th consecutive year, according to the J.D. Power 2016 Home Improvement Retailer Satisfaction Study. The study measures customer satisfaction with home improvement retailers by examining merchandise; price; sales and promotions; staff and service; and store facility. Satisfaction is measured on a 1,000-point scale.

It seems safe to say the novelty of shopping online has worn off.

According to a new study examining the online shopping and purchase habits of the U.S. population from e-commerce platform BigCommerce, 96% of Americans are shopping online. E-commerce customers spend an average of five hours per week making online purchases and allocate an average of 36% of their shopping budgets to e-commerce.

Respondents ranked online shopping ahead of smartphone GPS and streaming media as a basic essential they could not live without.

The term “post-department store era” was once considered so controversial that many in the retail world avoided using it, fearing backlash from powerful industry giants like Macy’s and Sears. Some saw the very idea of department store obsolescence as pure folly while others saw it only as a vague possibility too far in the future to consider.
 

Image Courtesy: news.nike.com

Retailers looking for global opportunities in emerging markets should head to Asia, particularly China, according to a just-released survey.   

China ranks as the top country in A.T. Kearney’s 2016 Global Retail Development Index (GRDI), followed by India, whose high market potential, fast growth, improved regulatory environment, and ease of doing business pulled it up to second in the rankings. (See end of article for top 30 rankings.)

Consumers love to shop and love using social media, but somehow the two passions are not connecting.
 
Twitter, which has been piloting an embedded buy button in tweets since September 2014, is abandoning the effort. Recent studies from Forrester and GlobalWebIndex indicate generally low consumer usage rates for social buy buttons, which are also offered by platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram.
 

Customers know what prompts them to make purchases, but the companies doing the selling may not be aware.

A global, cross-industry study released by technology services provider Mindtree, “Winning in the Age of Personalization,” shows that 78% of consumers indicate that personalized promotions encourage them to buy products and services they have purchased before. Almost as many (74%) say personalized promotions encourage them buy relevant products and services they have never purchased.

Thank you for your interest! To download the report, click here.

With a couple of exceptions, May same-store sales figures reported by several major apparel, specialty and discount chains were less than impressive.

First the good news. Bath & Body Works reported a 3% same-store sales lift for May 2016 compared to the same month a year earlier. Same-store sales at Costco Wholesale Corp. and L Brands were flat, which may not sound that encouraging but was better than most other retailers reporting figures for the month.

Here is a roundup of other chains reporting negative same-store sales growth for the month.