Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

U.S. consumers are willing to use mobile devices during the shopping process, but not so much at the end.

According to a new study of 23,000 global consumers (including U.S. shoppers) from PwC, “Total Retail 2016,” only 22% of U.S. consumers make a mobile purchase at least monthly and only 26% say mobile will become a main purchasing tool for them in the future. Deloitte cites the lack of widespread tools to make mobile purchasing easier, such as buy buttons, currently available in the U.S.

One demographic in particular may want to break into a chorus of The Who’s “My Generation” when they use Pinterest.

New data from Pinterest shows that more than one in three of Pinterest’s 100 million global users are Millennials. With 75% of all content saved by Pinterest users coming from businesses, this reflects an opportunity to present brands and products to a Millennial-heavy audience.

Consumers in the U.S. are definitely relying on digital tools to aid their shopping activities.

According to a new study of 2,000 consumers in nine countries including the U.S. from Deloitte, “Navigating the New Digital Divide,” 49% of purchases made in the U.S. are digitally influenced, and 28% are influenced by mobile.

When it comes to making online customers happy, one well-known name stands at the top.

Fourth quarter data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) shows Amazon.com led all online retailers with a score of 83.out of 100. Compared to the prior year, overall Internet retail customer satisfaction slipped 2.4% to a score of 80 out of 100. This still leads all other retail categories in the Index.

Dillard’s says sales were particularly weak in the Southern states as the department store retailer reported a 35.6% drop in fourth quarter profit.

For the period ended Jan. 30, Dillard's had revenue of $2.07 billion for the fourth quarter, down from $2.1 billion during the same period a year ago. Net income was $130.5 million, or $3.17 per share, for the prior year fourth quarter. Same-store sales declined 2%. Net sales for the fourth quarter were $2.074 billion.

It’s not going to be so easy for the 11 million-plus active members of Starbuck Corp.’s loyalty program to earn freebies.

Starting in mid-April, the coffee giant is making a change in its “My Starbucks Rewards” loyalty program whereby members will earn points, or “stars,” based on the dollars spent on the purchase. Currently, customers earn a star for each transaction, regardless of how much they spent, and are entitled to a free item after earning 12 stars.

CVS Health's decision to stop selling cigarettes is having its intended impact - 52% of those consumers who used to buy their cigarettes from CVS say it is now harder to buy cigarettes altogether, according to a survey commissioned by V2, a manufacturer of electronic cigarette and vaporizer products. Out of that group, 73% called the impact manageable, stating that “buying cigarettes is now harder but I have other options” and 27% said it made buying them “much harder.”