Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

Reston, Va. -- Four in every five smartphone users – 85.9 million in total – accessed retail content on their device in July, according to a study by comScore. Amazon sites led as the top retailer with an audience of 49.6 million visitors, representing 46.6% of smartphone owners, followed by eBay with 32.6 million visitors and Apple with 17.7 million visitors.

Total home improvement dollars increased by 7% when comparing the 12 months ended July 2012 with the previous 12 months, according to consumer research from The NPD Group.

The units of home improvement items sold grew less than 2%, according to the Port Washington, N.Y.-based research firm.

Much of the unit growth in the home improvement industry was driven by hand tools, the second largest segment based on unit sales after storage and organization. Hand tools saw an 8% increase in units between August 2011 and July 2012.

New York -- The Deloitte Consumer Spending Index, released Tuesday, showed a drop in spending for the second month in a row.

The Index tracks consumer cash flow as an indicator of future consumer spending.

New York -- Survey results released Tuesday by WSL/Strategic Retail found that Canada represents a strong expansion opportunity for U.S. retailers.
 
The “How Canada Shops” research study revealed that 64% of Canadians can still afford to shop beyond the basics – versus half of Americans, who say they cannot.



CINCINNATI — Consumers continue to be cautious about sharing their personal information, according to an online survey conducted by LoyaltyOne, a global provider of coalition loyalty, customer analytics and loyalty services.

Armonk, N.Y. -- Study results released Tuesday by IBM revealed that while U.S. consumers shopped this July and August, they were not buying clothes and notebooks for their children but rather items for the home.

According to IBM’s findings, the biggest retail gains this back-to-school shopping season came from home goods purchases which increased 30% in July and more than 25% in August over their respective months in 2012.

Chicago -- A study released on Tuesday by BDO USA found that retailers are generally confident that year-end sales will top last year’s. According to the sixth-annual BDO Retail Compass Survey of CFOs, which examined the opinions of 100 leading retail CFOs nationwide, retailers are expecting a 4.5% increase in total 2012 sales.

With shoppers making fewer trips and impulse purchases, the need to influence them earlier and more frequently in the purchase decision-making cycle is critical for sales success. To accomplish this, consumer packaged goods (CPG) retailers and manufacturers are increasingly using cooperative advertising and promotion programs that target shoppers at home when they are most likely to be planning shopping trips and creating lists. As retailers, understanding what your competition is planning for in-home is just as essential to staying competitive as what’s happening in-store.