Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

In recognition of shoppers’ desire for clean foods with minimal ingredients, Bumble Bee has introduced a new “Heritage Pack” with labeling reminiscent of the 1950s. Retailers may be inclined to say, “so what,” but there are several interesting aspects to the initiative.

Packaging changes among CPG companies are common in an industry where genuine innovation is hard to come by. So a new label, color scheme or pack size tends to elicit a big yawn from retailers.

Waban, Mass. -- Chick-fil-A and Sonic Drive-In deliver the best customer experience in the fast food industry, according to the 2014 Temkin Experience Ratings, an annual ranking of companies based on a study of 10,000 U.S. consumers.

New York -- The Deloitte Consumer Spending Index remained flat in February 2014, showing only a marginal change. The Index tracks consumer cash flow as an indicator of future consumer spending.

The Index, which comprises four components, tax burden, initial unemployment claims, real wages and real home prices, ticked down slightly to 3.9 from 4.0 last month. Highlights of the Index include:

Tax Burden: The tax rate stayed at 11.8%, consistent with recent months.

San Diego – Nine-in-10 (91%) women conduct online research prior to making a purchase, and 92% are willing to pay more for competing products that receive positive online reviews. A new consumer survey from Interactions, “Retail Perceptions - The Power of Persuasion,” also found that 30% of women use a mobile device to conduct research and 37% of mobile users say they conduct research during their shopping trip.

Waban, Mass. -- Sam's Club and Amazon.com deliver the best customer experience in the retail industry, according to the 2014 Temkin Experience Ratings, an annual ranking of companies based on a study of 10,000 U.S. consumers. Sam's Club and Amazon.com continue their reign as the highest-rated retailers for the third straight year, each earning an "excellent" rating.

A study of 10,000 U.S. consumers’ attitudes about retail customer service saw Sam’s Club best Amazon.com and dozens of other retailers among a field of 268 companies.

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart is piloting a new small format convenience concept called “Walmart To Go.” The first Walmart To Go store has opened in Bentonville, Ark., location of the retailer’s corporate headquarters.

San Mateo, Calif. – Six-in-10 (60%) of those who knew about any data breaches at notable retailers, such as Target and Neiman Marcus, hold the merchant responsible for preventing future incidents of a data breach. The “2014 Consumer Reaction to Financial Data Breaches Study” of more than 2,000 adult U.S. consumers from Feedzai and Harris Interactive also found that 43% think nothing is more aggravating than getting credit/debit card data stolen.

New York -- More than half (55%) of consumers want mobile wallets, according to a new survey from payment technology provider VeriFone. This percentage rises to 70% among Millennial consumers.

In addition, VeriFone data shows that 65% of U.S, consumers will continue to use credit and debit as primary payment methods in 2014. Consumers are most likely to use smartphones to small purchases (45%) via smartphone, as opposed to medium (44%) and large (29%) purchases.

Other findings include:

Walmart this week opened its first small format convenience store branded as Walmart To Go in its hometown of Bentonville.