Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

Austin, Texas – Retailers should love the latest predictions for consumer spending on the upcoming Valentine’s Day holiday. According to a recent survey of about 1,000 U.S. adults by digital offers destination RetailMeNot, those surveyed who are in relationships are planning to spend an average of $148 on their significant other, up 30% from $114 in 2014.

Reston, Va. – Despite the popular image of “showrooming” mobile shoppers using their devices to find better prices on in-store items, 85% of consumers actively shop with a mobile device from home, even if other devices are available. In addition, the “Mobile Spend in 2015” study from Contact Solutions shows that 26% of consumers do in fact showroom, while 27% will make mobile purchases from a store they are shopping in.

Other findings include:

Carle Place, N.Y. – The September 2014 closing of its acquisition of the Harry & David brand helped produce extremely strong performance during the second quarter of fiscal 2015 at 1-800-Flowers.com Inc. The retailer reported net income of $45.54 million, more than double the $17.99 million reported in the same quarter a year earlier.

San Jose, Calif. – Homeowners stuck shoveling out more than two feet of snow were not the only ones in the Northeast negatively impacted by winter storm Juno the week of Jan. 26. Analysis from RetailNext shows that between Monday, Jan. 26 and Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015, store traffic at Northeast retailers dropped 35.6% from the same three-day period the prior year.

It may be hard to believe (considering its financial troubles), but Sears was the most popular U.S. department store on Facebook during the 2014 holiday shopping season, according to a new study. 

The data also show that Walmart.com was the most popular mass merchant store site.

San Luis Obispo – In what could be a preview of Sunday’s Super Bowl performance, Patriots fans have been outselling Seahawks fans overall in the month of January by 258%. According to data from Shopatron, although in total Patriots fans have spent more, individually their Seahawks counterparts have been more zealous, spending an average of 15% more than Patriots fans on each individual order.

Dayton, Ohio – Personalization has become something of a “family value” for marketers. According to the Teradata 2015 Global Data-Driven Marketing Survey, 90 % of marketers say making marketing individualized is a priority.  

They want to move beyond segmentation to true one-to-one personalization in a real-time context. Faster, more accurate decisions are key benefits of using data for nearly two-thirds of respondents.

Other findings include:

San Mateo, Calif. -- A pair of veteran retailers were among the most popular store sites on Facebook during the 2014 holiday season. Sears was the most popular U.S. department store, while Walmart.com was the most popular mass merchant store site, according to a study by Searchmetrics.

The Searchmetrics study analyzed the number of weekly Facebook likes, comments and shares for pages from the websites of nine top US department stores and three mass merchant stores during November and December 2014.

It's time once again for confectionery and snack retailers, as well as manufacturers to come together for the Sweets & Snacks Expo, which is scheduled to be held May 19 through May 21 at Chicago's McCormick Place.

Washington, D.C. -- Restaurants will remain the nation’s hottest hirer this year.  An annual report by the National Restaurant Association indicated that, as it has for the last 16 years, the restaurant industry employment will outpace employment growth in 2015.