Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

Search engines are getting knocked down a peg when it comes to where consumers begin their online research.   More than two-thirds (67%) of shoppers now begin their online searches on a retail site, not a search engine, according to “Browsing & Buying Behavior by Category: 2016,” a report from HookLogic.   

Teens are returning to one of their former favorite destinations.
 
According to a survey by Willian Blair of teens and young adults, teens are visiting malls more in 2016 than they were in 2015, benzinga reported.
    

Taking a lesson from B.F. Skinner, Office Depot is taking steps to reward college students for refraining from using their phones at the most critical time of the day — during class.   College students are so obsessed, and thus distracted, by their phones that 33% said they checked their device a minimum of 10 times a day, according to a study conducted by the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln  

This special report by WD Partners focuses on the new wave of shoppers that is poised to deliver more disruption to the retail industry—and how retailers can embrace that disruption to innovate and thrive in the evolving marketplace.

To download the report, click here. 

A majority of millennials are purchasing gift cards, but not for the obvious reasons.   According to a new report from analyst firm Mercator Advisory Group, nearly three-in-five young adults said they bought refillable retailer-specific gift cards during the previous year, up from less than half of shoppers who reported making these purchases in the 2015 study. The biggest jump was among 18- to 24-year-olds, which climbed from 44% to 53%; followed by those aged 25 to 34, which increased from 48% to 57%.  

Though it forecasts a stronger-than-anticipated closure season, Cushman & Wakefield sees average retail rents ending the year 4.6% higher than they were in 2016.   The company’s U.S. Macro Forecast released this week said that consistent demand for space in Class A retail centers is the biggest factor in rental-rate growth. Cushman analysts also predict that 2016 will see a drop in the retail vacancy rate to 5.8% from 6.6% last year — though they see it moving back up to 6% in 2017.