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Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

  • Shoppers keep spending in check in August

    Retail sales fell more than expected in August after a strong June and a relatively flat July.   The National Retail Federation said that retail sales, excluding automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants, were down 0.3% over July. On a year-over-year basis, however, NRF calculates that retail sales increased 4.1%.    The slowdown in August was broad-based and, notably, there was a drop-off in non-store sales, NRF noted. Clothing sales increased 0.7% in August, driven by back-to-school shopping.

  • Real estate companies rise on sustainability index

    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.  

  • Report: Digital-influenced in-store spending keeps rising

    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.”

  • Another sports retailer files for bankruptcy

    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. )

  • Holiday forecast: Higher sales, more online shopping

    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.

  • Report: Get ready for most demanding consumers in history

    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.

  • Report: Digital dictates the majority of in-store purchases

    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.

  • Report: Amazon claims top spot in social ranking

    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.  
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