Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

New York -- The month of March saw a steep rise in smartphone-generated traffic, orders, and revenue by consumers to retailer smartphone-optimized websites over the year-ago period, according to mobile commerce platform Branding Brand. In March 2014, smartphones generated 29.4% of total online visits, up 42.7% from March 2013 (62.9% iOS, 36.4% Android). The market share of non-mobile (desktop) visits decreased 21.1% from March 2013 to March 2014.

Washington, D.C. -- Retail employment increased 18,200 in March and 229,000 year-over-year, according to the National Retail Federation. The increase is consistent with recent positive economic indicator reports and bodes well for income and consumer confidence as the industry enters into the busy spring selling season.

Bentonville, Ark. -- One-in-three microbusiness owners (31%) depend more on a second job for their personal income than they do on their business, yet 69% say owning their business is the ideal job. In collaboration with Gallup, Sam’s Club has unveiled a new quarterly tracking poll focused on America’s smallest businesses, or microbusinesses, with five or fewer workers.

Sam’s Club and the Gallup organization have launched a new quarterly tracking poll that focuses on the smallest of small business.

The poll is designed to look at what Sam’s is calling “microbusiness,” companies with five or fewer employees, that represent a core customer of Sam’s Club and are estimated to total 25 million.

New York -- Consumers worldwide are increasingly using multi-platform devices, especially mobile, to enhance their in-store shopping experience, according to a study by global digital and technology agency DigitasLBi.

In the study, "Connected Commerce: A Snapshot of the Modern Shopper,” 71% of Americans say that using a mobile phone while shopping inside a store could affect their buying decisions.

Jeffersonville, Ind. - The key to repeat customers is personalized communication from brands after purchases. According to a new survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers from multichannel customer engagement solutions provider Accent Marketing Services LLC, 86% of consumers say it’s important to have a positive experience after making a purchase.

Key findings in the report also include:

• Nearly half of consumers interact with brands after a purchase.

When brand marketers and agency executives gathered in Chicago recently for the annual Shopper Marketing Summit there was plenty of talk about mobile, social and digital, but there was one thing no one talked about.

Mobile is the hottest thing going right now so hardly surprising there was plenty of discussion about myriad ways apps can be used to engage, influence and activate shoppers on the path to purchase. Mobile continues to transform the path to purchase, overlooked in discussions of the shoppers’ evolving journey was the role of packaging.

The Nordstrom’s Customer Experience Center is a replica of a store where the department store operator can bring together salespeople, suppliers and customers to share feedback on new concepts before they are introduced to stores.