Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

Value and communication are the keys to winning over millennial consumers, according to a survey of 600,000 consumers conducted by J.D. Power.

The 2016 survey polled more than 634,000 consumers, including 126,315 millennials and 246,594 Boomers. Pete Trujillo, senior manager of industry analytics at J.D. Power, hosted a webinar this week to highlight data from the survey, titled "Millennials Insight Report: The Customer Experience Perspective."

A new $5.5 million research grant from the Walmart Foundation and the Aspen Institute will look at the evolving nature what the Bureau of Labor Statistics lists as the most common job in America: “retail salesperson.”

The largest portion of the grant is dedicated to exploring alternative models to provide career pathways for frontline retail workers, according to a statement from the Walmart Foundation and the Aspen Institute, an organization known for pioneering new approaches to complex problems.

Increased security risks tops the list of a new survey of 300 top global retail executives on the topics keeping them up at night.

According to “Finding Retail Growth: A View from the Corner Office,” sponsored by Demandware and conducted by Economist Intelligence Unit, retail leaders view increased security risks, the rise of globally competitive online marketplaces, shifts in consumer taste and increased globalization as the four most significant challenges impacting the industry.

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.

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.

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.