Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

October will be over in a flash, and with it, all eyes will be on the holiday season, which is measured from November 1 through December 31.

The 2015 retail calendar has several distinctions, as we saw Memorial Day fall on the earliest possible date and Labor Day on the latest possible date. This holiday season, there are 28 days between Thanksgiving (not counting the actual day) and Christmas, which is an average amount for the period separating the two holidays.

While the financial industry is supporting the use of chip-and-signature cards to meet the upcoming Oct. 1 EMV mandate, consumers are less convinced.

When it comes to e-commerce, consumers aren’t afraid to do a little homework.

According to the 2015 Digital Consumer Preferences Survey from digital commerce solution provider BrandShop, 96% of consumers feel research is a crucial step in making an e-commerce purchase.

Almost six in 10 (58%) respondents start their product search on Google, and 22% go directly a brand’s website. Third-party retailers such as Amazon came in third with 14% usage.

Online shoppers will do anything to quality for free shipping-even spend more money.

Sixty percent of holiday shoppers say they have increased their online spending in the past to qualify for free shipping, according to the 2015 Holiday Shopping Survey from Pitney Bowes. 

There are four key elements that sustain a customer’s loyalty over the long term (and price is not one of them), according to the newest research from Synchrony Financial.

According to Synchrony Financial’s 2015 Customer Experience and Impact Study, which examines 27 elements of the shopping experience, four experiences stand out as most valued by customers and translate into greater spend and loyalty for retailers.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association introduced its second Retail Energy Management Report, a resource for companies to compare energy management programs across the industry and identify opportunities for progress.

The report was released prior to the opening of RILA’s 2015 Retail Sustainability Conference, now in its eighth year.

While the financial industry is supporting the use of chip-and-signature cards to meet the upcoming Oct. 1 EMV mandate, consumers are less convinced.

According to a new survey released by the National Retail Federation (NRF), 62% of U.S. consumers believe new credit cards being issued by banks don’t go far enough to protect card data or prevent fraud.

As statistical revelations go, the fact most Americans use the Internet and mobile phones is not especially surprising, but still significant for omnichannel retailers.

According to the latest Global Media Intelligence Report from eMarketer, 80.8% of the U.S. population, or nearly 260 million people, will go online at least once a month in 2015.