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Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

  • Online consumers spending more on floor care

    Floor care, water filtration devices and air purifiers generate higher average prices online than in brick-and-mortar stores, according to research from NPD Group.

    The research company’s Consumer Tracking Service, looking back at the 12 months ended March 2013, found that consumers are spending significantly more for these home environment cleaning appliances purchased online. 

  • Consumer spending drops in April

    WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer spending dropped 0.2% in April 2013, according to the Commerce Department.

    It was the first monthly decline since May of last year and follows increases of 0.1% in March and 0.8% in February. Falling gas prices in April were part of the reason for the drop in spending, with purchases of gas, electricity and other energy goods and services down 4.4%.

    In addition, increased Social Security deductions in consumer paychecks may have also contributed to the decline in spending.

     

  • Ebay, Walmart and McDonald's tops for in-store charity donations

    Chicago -- Ebay, Walmart and McDonalds are tops when it comes to in-store charity donations, according to a study by Cause Marketing Forum that ranked the largest consumer donations at the point-of-sale last year. More than $358 million was raised in 2012 through a total of 63 corporate-backed charity checkout campaigns identified by Cause Marketing.

  • Survey: 11% of adults consider themselves shopaholics

    Whiting, Ind. -- Survey results released Thursday by CouponCabin.com found that more than one-in-10 Americans say their shopping habits have put them in debt, with 20% saying the most amount of shopping debt they've been in exceeds $5,000.

    The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive, also revealed that 41% of U.S. adults have created shopping debt of more than $1,000. Eleven percent consider themselves to be shopaholics.

  • Consumer sentiment maintains at five-year record high

    New York -- Consumer sentiment for the week ended May 27 maintained a near five-year high level, according to the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index on Thursday.

    Crediting an improving economy and healing personal finances, Americans are expressing continued optimism, as the Index was at minus 29.7 in the period compared with minus 29.4 a week earlier. The margin of error for the figure is 3 percentage points.

    According to Bloomberg, views on the current state of the economy matched a mid-April reading as the strongest since January 2008.

  • ‘Social Retail’ to the Rescue

    By Crosby Renwick, [email protected]

    The pundits say retail, as we’ve known it since the ancient Egyptians, is coming to an end. Ouch. That’s big. You have to admit the logic is not bad: When retail is literally everywhere, when we can buy virtually anything off our phones and have it delivered, why go to a store?

  • Guess? earnings fall 56% in Q1

    Los Angeles -- Guess? reported Thursday that adjusted net earnings for the quarter ended May 4 plummeted 56.1% to $11.7 million, from $26.6 million in the year-ago period.

    According to CEO Paul Marciano, the results were better than the company had expected.

    "Despite the continued global economic challenges … these earnings reflect the ongoing success within the company to globally streamline and improve productivity,” he said.

  • DSW Q1 net income drops 13%, but still beats predictions

    Columbus, Ohio -- DSW Inc. experienced drops in both net income and same-store sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2013. Net income declined about 13%, dropping to $34.5 million from $39.9 million in the year-ago period, amid hefty one-time charges. Its results, however, beat analyst expectations.

    For the quarter ended May 4, same-store sales declined 2.4%. In one bright spot, sales rose almost 8% to $601.4 million, from $558.6 million.

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