Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

The rise of fast-fashion, changing fashion tastes and online commerce may be claiming another teen apparel retailer.

Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to Bloomberg, which cited people with "knowledge of the situation.” The report said the filing could occur as early as next week.

Consumers who rely on mobile coupons when food shopping are much more likely to experiment with new brands.

According to the latest edition of GfK MRI’s “The Survey of the American Consumer,” one in three (33%) U.S. adults agrees completely or somewhat with the statement, “I rely on mobile coupons while food shopping.” And almost half (44%) of these mobile coupon users say they like to “change brands often for the sake of variety and novelty,” compared to just 30% of the general population.

Apparently shifts in weather patterns have thrown yet another curve ball to the traditional retail industry.

Retailers estimate they could earn an extra 10% in revenue — which translates into $100 million annually for a $1 billon company — by offering customers and employees a highly individualized experience.

That’s one of the key retail takeaways of new report by Oracle, which surveyed 300 C-level executives across 10 industries to understand how prepared organizations are to address the fact that consumers increasingly expect, and even demand, to have it their way—whether shopping, communicating, working, or enjoying leisure time.

Although Amazon.com recently more than tripled the number of items available via its Amazon Dash buttons and cited some impressive growth statistics, actual use may be relatively low.

According to daily analysis of a panel of more than 4 million online shoppers from digital commerce research firm Slice Intelligence, fewer than 50% of people who had bought a Dash button before Amazon expanded the assortment on March 31 had ever actually made an order using one.

Although Amazon.com recently more than tripled the number of items available via its Amazon Dash buttons and cited some impressive growth statistics, actual use may be relatively low.

According to daily analysis of a panel of more than 4 million online shoppers from digital commerce research firm Slice Intelligence, fewer than 50% of people who had bought a Dash button before Amazon expanded the assortment on March 31 had ever actually made an order using one.

Sleek. Minimalist. Innovative. Modern.

Those were among the words used most often by mystery shoppers to describe Apple’s next-generation store, located at Shops of Saddle Creek South in Germantown, Tennessee, a suburb of Memphis.

The shoppers are part of Field Agent, which provides on-location auditing and research via a network of 650,000 “agents” who collect data that can be monitored in real time by its clients. The company deployed several agents to visit and then review the store. The majority of the comments were glowing:

In a move that will directly impact retail and fast-food chains, California legislatures approved a plan to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022, which will give the state the highest minimum wage in the nation. The measure will be signed into law on Monday by California Gov. Jerry Brown.