Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

Cambridge, Mass. -- An ongoing debate in retail is whether it’s a better strategy to use markdowns or everyday low prices. Research by MIT Sloan School of Management visiting professor Özalp Özer and his colleague Karen Zheng at MIT Sloan supports basing pricing strategy on consumer behavior compared to a one-size-fits-all approach.

Atlanta - Consumer year-over-year spending growth of 4.1% gained momentum in April 2014 compared to the prior month’s growth of 3.1%, driven by warmer weather as well as the Easter shift into April this year, according to First Data SpendTrend analysis. The report, which tracks same-store point-of-sale data by credit, signature debit, PIN debit, EBT, closed-loop prepaid cards and checks from nearly four million merchant locations serviced by First Data, shows transaction growth of 3.5% in April,  compared to March’s 2.7% growth.

A shrinking net loss was the only positive result from the tough first quarter fiscal 2014 numbers posted by Caché. Net loss shrank to $10.8 million from $17.8 million in the same quarter a year earlier.

Caché’s net sales dropped 11% to $47.4 million, from $53.5 million. Same-store sales declined 8.9%, with the shift in Easter contributing. Jay Margolis, Caché’s chairman and CEO, tried to strike an encouraging tone.

Purchase, N.Y. -- After several months of sluggish retail sales, consumer shopping in the U.S. rebounded in April, according to the latest MasterCard SpendingPulse report, which aggregate national retail sales activity in the MasterCard payments network, coupled with estimates for all other payment forms, including cash and check.

New York -- The United Kingdom’s Selfridges was named ‘Best Department Store in the World’ for the third consecutive time by the Intercontinental Group of Department Stores (IGDS). The award was given at the group’s Global Department Store Summit, which was held last week. The event is held every other year.

Selfridges was in competition for the award with Macy’s and the German retailer Breuninger.

Chicago - The fast-casual segment continues to obtain share from full-service chains and drive limited-service growth, making up 15% of the $231 billion limited-service restaurant segment. The “Top 150 Fast-Casual Chain Report” from Technomic shows that fast-casual sales increased 11% in 2013, while all limited-service chains grew by only 3.5%.

Interactions, a leading global integrated sales and marketing programs developer, has appointed David Zierman as director of insights.
 
Based in San Diego, Zierman will lead the company’s market research efforts including managing primary data collected via Mystery Shopping, Customer Intercept Surveys, Web Based Surveys, electronic customer satisfaction surveys (bottom of the receipt surveys) and Retail Audits. He will be responsible for the organization’s P&L as well as business development and operations.
 

GNC’s profit slid in the first quarter, but although the company said that severe weather during January and February affected its financial results, it also pointed to an “unusually significant amount” of negative media as a driving factor for the dip.