Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

Total U.S. Shopper Traffic in Retail Stores and Malls for February 2013

An unexpected decrease in shopper traffic around Valentine’s Day and Presidents Day led to an overall slower retail performance for the month of February.

Retail foot traffic for February decreased 5.4% compared with January 2013, departing from the positive year-over-year retail traffic trends seen in recent months. Foot traffic for February 2013 decreased 6.4% compared with the same month last year. 

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Birds Eye, a brand of Pinnacle Foods, was invited to share its successful strategy for getting youth to eat their vegetables at the Partnership for a Healthier America's (PHA) 2013 Building a Healthier Future Summit this week, at a time when childhood obesity experts are looking for new approaches and new options to tackle this complex issue.

Washington, D.C. -- A report released Tuesday by the National Retail Federation said that spending for St. Patrick’s Day is expected to grow to $4.7 billion, as celebrants invest an average of $35.27 on green attire, St. Patrick’s Day décor and holiday food and drink.

According to NRF’s St. Patrick’s Day Spending Survey conducted by BIGinsight, 84.2% of consumers will celebrate by wearing green. An additional 23.3% will decorate their home or office, and 34.6% will make a special dinner.

Boulder, Col. -- Nordstrom is the nation’s favorite fashion retail chain, according to an annual consumer study conducted by customer intelligence solutions provider Market Force Information. The upscale department store edged out Kohl’s, which had ranked first in the three previous studies. This year, Kohl’s moved to the No. 2 spot overall, followed by Macy’s, Dillard’s and J.C. Penney.
 

New York -- A report released Monday by Ipsos found that affluent optimism in the U.S. economy rose significantly in February.

Walmart U.S. president and CEO Bill Simon should have plenty to say when he addresses investors March 5 at the 34th Annual Raymond James Institutional Investors Conference.

^{Simon’s comments precede the Raymond James conference but come roughly two weeks after Walmart reported disappointing top line growth at its U.S. stores by posting 1% comp increase that was at the low end of a forecast range calling for a gain of 1% to 3%. The company also issued a tepid outlook for first quarter growth with comps expected to be flat to up 2%.}

Chesapeake, Va. -- Dollar Tree Inc. reported Wednesday a bigger-than-expected profit of $228.6 million for the quarter ended on Feb. 2, up from $187.9 million in the year-ago period.

Sales climbed 15.4% to $2.25 billion, boosted by an extra week in the quarter. Wall Street expected $2.23 billion in sales. Same-store sales increased 2.4%.

Whiting, Ind. -- Research released Wednesday by CouponCabin.com showed that more than half of U.S. adults’ online shopping habits won’t be impacted by rising shipping costs.

According to the survey, conducted by Harris Interactive for CouponCabin.com, 51% of those polled said they are neither more or less likely to shop online, even with potentially increasing shipping costs. An additional 7% said they are more likely to shop online.

Waban, Mass. -- Survey results released Wednesday by Temkin Group revealed that Publix and Trader Joe’s ranked the highest among 246 companies in terms of customer experience.

The 2013 Temkin Experience Ratings, which polled 10,000 U.S. consumers, were dominated by grocery chains and food purveyors. After Public and Trader Joe’s was Aldi, and rounding out the top 12 were Chick-fil-A, Amazon.com, Sam's Club, H.E.B., Dunkin' Donuts, Save-a-Lot, Sonic Drive-In, Little Caeser's and Ace Hardware.

New York -- A new report by Experian Marketing Services finds that several key retail trends will impact how marketers shape their messages in 2013.

According to the 2013 Digital Marketer Report, consumers today are multi-device and multichannel shoppers, forcing digital marketers to adapt and evolve their message to reach consumers across channels and all along the path to purchase.