Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

FedEx on-time performance went up this holiday season while UPS did not fare quite as well.

According to new data from package tracking provider ShipMatrix Inc., FedEx met its guarantees of one-, two- and three-day holiday deliveries 97.8% of the time in 2015. This marked an improvement from 97.3% in 2014 and 95.4% in 2013.

Mobile purchasing looks set for major growth in 2016.

According to new projections from Bizrate Insights, a division of Connextiy, based on month-over-month order volume in November 2015, mobile website purchases will increase by as much as 68% from 2015 to 2016. The peak volume during the 2016 holiday season may reach as high as 42%, nearly half of all online orders.

When it came to clicking online coupons in 2015, consumers had clear preferences about what they wanted discounts for.

Online deal and discount platform RetailMeNot.com released a list of the 10 most popular coupons among its users in 2015. Some offers received close to 1.5 million clicks. In order, consumers clicked:

• 20% off one item at Tillys
• $5 off an online order of $15 or more at Ulta
• Up to 35% off a car rental at Budget

On-demand alcohol delivery app Drizly is in a growth mode. The start-up has an average transaction of around $70, about three times higher than a normal, average in-store transaction, the founders told Boston.com. [Boston.com]

More than a fifth of the world’s retail sales occurred in the United States this year.

That’s according to the latest forecast of retail and e-commerce sales from eMarketer, which estimates that total U.S. retail sales hit $4.8 trillion in 2015 and will approach $5 trillion in value in 2016.

Did a last-minute rush make for stronger holiday sales than many — including the National Retail Federation — had expected?

That’s the way it looks based on the MasterCard Spending Pulse report, which found that sales (excluding auto and gas) increased 7.9% during the holiday season, led by double-digit gains in e-commerce, women’s apparel and furniture.

The SpendingPulse report, released on Monday, December 28, looked at U.S. sales trends across cards, cash and checks from Black Friday to Christmas Eve.

With 2016 upon us, many employers find themselves nervously awaiting what election-year politics might bring to their doorsteps. Retailers and restaurant operators, more than ever, have been thrust front and center into the political landscape, with labor issues at the top of candidate's agendas as well as the subject of numerous ballot issues at the state and local level.   As a result, the business models and labor practices of entry-level employers are being evaluated by the public in much the same way the candidates are.

I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, especially during the season to be jolly, but I’m a realist. And though I wish happy holidays for all, I must tell mall retailers to steel themselves for another disappointing holiday season. Deloitte is expecting seasonal sales growth of 3.5% to 4% this year, ahead of inflation but below the 5.2% growth of last year — but don’t expect malls and department stores to see that growth. A disproportionate share of holiday sales will go to the humble discount stores, far away from the fancier shopping centers.