Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

When it comes to providing digital consumers with a quality online shopping environment, one well-known discount club chain comes out on top.

According to the “2016 Digital Experience Report” from application performance company Dynatrace, Costco led all online retailers in both performance and reliability. Apple followed in a close second place.

User data from Pinterest shows that more than one-in-three of its 100 million global users are millennials. In addition, 79% of millennial Pinterest users say the platform is a “guide to life and is a place to teach me how to do things,” compared with 71% of all Pinterest monthly users.

Other notable millennial-related findings include:

An announcement by Target on its website saying it that would allow employees and customers to choose the restroom and fitting room that corresponded with their gender identities has thrust the chain into the middle of a contentious national debate.

At a time when more and more online retailers are successfully expanding to brick-and-mortar locations, it’s worth taking a moment to examine how those brands are approaching the site selection process. The specific and strategic considerations that online retailers review when assessing possible brick-and-mortar locations not only tells us a lot about what’s behind that thought process, but provides important hints about the priorities and perspectives shaping retailer behavior in an increasingly omnichannel world.

The world’s largest social media network showed its chops in the first quarter, reporting impressive increases in revenue, earnings and users that shattered analysts’ expectations.

Facebook reported $2.2 billion in profit for the quarter, ended March 31, up from $1.8 billion in the year-ago period. Revenue totaled $5.38 billion, up 52% over the year ago period.

Despite their tech-savvy reputation, millennials are not above reducing their retail spending with the help of good old-fashioned print coupons.

Wireless provider T-Mobile is launching a major retail expansion drive this year.

The company plans to open 400 of its own branded stores this year, according to a report by Fortune.

“We always just follow what the customer really wants,” T-Mobile’s chief operating officer Mike Sievert told Fortune, and customers, he added, have been “very clear” that “they prefer to do business at a fully branded store.”

Payments are no longer a means to an end for accepting money and finalizing a transaction.

According to a new global survey of senior retail executives responsible for payments strategy and/or payments IT strategy from payments company ACI Worldwide and technology analyst firm Ovum, “2016 Global Payments Insight Survey: Merchants and Retailers,” up to 81% of retailers view payments as a clear part of their business strategy.