Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

CINCINNATI — Dunnhumby Ltd.,an analyzer of brand value for consumer goods and retail companies, has hired Lung Huang, formerly of Arbitron, as VP digital advertising for global partnerships. In this newly created role, Huang will lead the company’s efforts to expand their integrated suite of solutions across media - both offline (traditional TV and print) and digital (online, mobile, social), across the globe. He will be based in New York City.

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%.}

By Sandy Skrovan, U.S. research director, Planet Retail