Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

Marketing experts routinely advise retailers to send customers notifications, such as emails and texts, informing them of discounts or following up on purchases and site visits. But such notifications may be doing more harm than good.

In the 1970s, Saturday Night Live had a cast of comedians that were called the “Not Ready for Prime Time Players.” In 2015, U.S. retailers have a cast of customers that could be called the “Not Ready for EMV Payers.”

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.

In recent years, the omnichannel world has turned retail on its ear. But after all the innovation, retailers have spoken: the store is back - and employees are going to be a key driver to its success. Retailers are trying to provide services in stores that consumers just can't get online, and for that, store employees become a clear differentiator.

But do retailers have the workforce they need? And what tools does that workforce need to be successful?

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. 

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.

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.

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.