Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

Westlake Village, Calif. – Target Corp. may be exiting the pharmacy business, but the retailer is doing so on a high note.

According to the new 2015 U.S. Pharmacy Study from J.D. Power, Target, which in June announced it would sell its pharmacy business to CVS Health for $1.9 billion and rebrand its nearly 1,700 prescription departments as CVS/pharmacy, ranked highest among mass merchandiser pharmacies.

It’s almost September, which can only mean one thing: The annual blizzard of holiday sales forecasts is about to begin, and this year eMarketer is one of the first out of the gate.

The CEO of Whole Foods says that despite the company's recent bad publicity and sales growth struggles, the retailer plans to stay the course of "conscious capitalism."

York, Penn. – The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. saw its net loss grow to $39.6 million from $36.2 million in a difficult second quarter of fiscal 2015. An early mortgage termination led to the increased loss.
Unseasonably cool weather and shrinking traffic drove net sales down 1% to $555.4 million from $563.5 million. Same-store sales fell 0.2%, although e-commerce sales grew in the double digits.  

Stamford, Conn. — Even with the increasing influence of digital technology on retail habits, the in-store experience is important in all major purchase decisions, according to a new survey. The new Fourth Annual Major Consumer Purchase Study from Synchrony Financial shows that an overwhelming majority of shoppers buy in person.

At the same time, shoppers continue to carefully research major purchases of $500 or more, including financing options. While 80% of major purchase customers start with online research, most finish the deal inside a store.

CPG marketers bringing a new product to market don't need to break the bank on a national ad campaign, according to a new study from Catalina. But they do need to idenfity and market to the small number of early adopters.

St. Petersburg, Fla. – A surprisingly small number of consumers makes or breaks new CPG products. According to a study from personalized digital media company Catalina, less than 1% of consumers drive the vast majority of volume for most new CPG products.

Reagan era appointee David Stockman is no fan of the current administration or the Federal Reserve’s long-running easy money policy and to make his case against the flawed strategy he singles out four of the biggest names in department store retailing.

Stockman is the Reagan era director of the Office of Management and Budget who became a Wall Street executive and now regularly opines on the troubled state of the economy and looming dangers caused by nearly eight years of zero interest rates he contends have produced all manner of distortions in the economy.