Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

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

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:

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.

New York -- Organizational, operational and technology challenges are hampering retailers' efforts to meet customers' demand for a seamless shopping experience across all channels and touchpoints. According to a new research study from Accenture and Hybris Software, retailers view omni-channel maturity as a key brand differentiator for their companies, and improving their ability to provide customers with a seamless shopping experience across all channels as a top priority.

Birmingham, Ala. – Net income and sales declined at Hibbett Sports Inc. during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013. Net income dropped 13% from $19.6 million in the fourth quarter of the prior fiscal year to $16.4 million, while net sales inched upward 0.2% to $217.8 million from $217.4 million.

Same-store sales rose 1.7% during the quarter. Hibbett Sports cited slowing sales in January due to inclement weather and a less favorable sales impact from the national college football championship game as impacting net income.

New York -- Rwanda, Nigeria, Namibia, Tanzania and Gabon occupied the top five places of the first-ever A.T. Kearney African Retail Development Index (ARDI), a new study designed to help large, organized retailers determine where and how to best enter Sub-Saharan Africa's rapidly growing retail market. The ARDI not only identifies the markets in Africa most attractive for retail expansion today, but those that offer the most potential in the future.

Ottawa, Canada - Target dropped prices on its monitored assortment by more than 20% during the days leading up to its confirmation of the data breach that compromised the security of 70 million customers’ personal information during the pre-holiday shopping season. According to data from 360pi analyzing approximately 830 products across eight categories, including TVs, tablets, digital cameras and more, Target dropped its prices by 18% between Dec. 14 and Dec. 17.

Austin, Texas – In addition to wanting to efficiently find and purchase products, online shoppers also want to have fun. According to a new survey from Compare Metrics and The E-tailing Group, 70% of shoppers want to go online to browse and have fun, but find current online shopping experiences uninspiring. When asked about their discovery experiences on top retail sites, shoppers gave a “mixed bag” average rating of six-out-of-10. Other key takeaways from the study include: