Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

Wages

Plenty of consumers will be shopping for deals over Independence Day— and they plan to use social media to find them.   Forty-three percent of consumers plan to shop for deals on Independence Day, according to a survey by ChargeItSpot. When asked what resource they will use to hunt down deals and sales, the majority of respondents (37%) said social media, followed by online deal sites (17%) and mobile coupon apps (17%) – meaning in-store shoppers are finding their deals online.    

Affluence is out. So are the days of the mass market.    A new report projects 10 years out and reveals three fundamental principles that are shaping tomorrow's consumer packaged goods and retail industries: trust, influence and personalization. In a preview of its 2017 Global Future Consumer study, A.T. Kearney predicts the death of the scale economy that focuses on catering to affluence in favor of one driven by the influence of industry stakeholders, particularly by the hyper-connectivity of the younger generations.

To stand out in a highly saturated digital marketplace, retailers’ must deliver fast speeds that drive top-notch experiences.    This is according to “E-commerce Performance: What Works, What Doesn’t, and What’s Next?” The report, from Retail Systems Research (RSR), evaluates 80 major retail websites on page speed performance, as well as end user experience.   

Consumers may want a more personalized shopping experience, but some efforts in this regard creep them out.      

Levi Straus is the second most patriotic brand in America. And Ralph Lauren isn't far behind.    That's according to the 15th annual Brand Keys survey of iconic American brands, which asked 4,860 consumers, balanced for age and political party affiliation, to evaluate which of 280 brands were most resonant as to ‘patriotism.’ Jeep took the top spot in the survey for the second consecutive year. (For complete listing of the 50 most patriotic brands, which includes several retailers, see end of article.)

Increased security in airports is helping to boost sales in airport stores.    Travel retail, particularly in airports, is currently a bright spot in the retail world.    Spending in airports hit $38 billion globally in 2016, according to GlobalData. It is set to grow by 27% to $49 billion by 2021.  

The nation's retailers lost a staggering amount of money in 2016 due to shoplifting, organized crime, internal theft and other types of inventory shrink.    Inventory shrink totaled $48.9 billion in 2016, up from $45.2 billion the year before, as budget constraints left retail security budgets flat or declining, according to the annual National Retail Security Survey by the National Retail Federation and the University of Florida. The thefts amounted to 1.44% of sales, up from 1.38%.