Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

Warrendale, Pa. -- Rue 21 earned a better-than-expected $9.1 million for the quarter ended July 28, up from $7.7 million in the same quarter last year.

Revenue rose 17% to $202.1 million, from $172.8 million. Same-store sales rose 0.5%, well below analyst expectations.

Walmart saw its low price supremacy challenged this week by a Bloomberg report indicating Target had lower prices on a basket of 150 comparable items.

Palo Alto, Calif. -- A survey released Thursday by Apigee found that three out of five – or 57% – of mobile app users would consider purchasing their holiday gifts this year on a mobile device.

The 2012 Holiday Shopping survey revealed that the top items that would potentially be purchased via mobile are books (32%), electronics (31%), gift cards (27%), DVDs/Blue-ray discs (26%), clothing (24%) and toys (20%).

New York -- Survey results unveiled Thursday by online coupon site RetailMeNot.com and Ipsos Public Affairs found that  an overwhelming number of consumers think the economy is in dire straits. As well, this pessimistic group is shoppers to adjust their holiday consumption behaviors and shop earlier this year.  

Specific findings of the report include:

Walmart U.S. just reported its fourth consecutive quarter of positive same store sales growth. Now comes the hard part.

The current third quarter period marks the first time in three years that Walmart U.S. is up against a prior year increase in same store sales. As Walmart U.S. president and CEO Bill Simon reminded those listening to the company’s conference call last week, Walmart had a 1.3% comp increase in the third quarter of 2011 and this year he is expecting an increase in the range of 1% to 3%.

New York - Amazon.com, Trader Joe’s and Costco Wholesale Corp. came out on top with consumers in a survey by global strategy firm OC&C Strategy Consultants, Boston. Rounding out the top five were Zappos and iTunes.

The retail industry, yours truly included, has had a watchful eye on J.C. Penney ever since CEO Ron Johnson took over and announced his plans to revamp the iconic retailer. Many experts have shared their concerns over the new direction and, as the second quarter numbers would indicate, cause for concern is clearly warranted. With overall sales plummeting nearly $1 billion dollars, and earnings plunging from an expected $41 million profit to an $81 million loss, the company is down $1.7 billion in sales and $260 million in earnings in the first half of the year, compared to 2011.

St. Louis -- Forty-five percent of customers shopping in-store at bricks-and mortar-locations will walk out and complete their purchase online for a discount as low as 2.5%, according to new showrooming research from GroupM Next.

This number jumps to 60% of shoppers who will leave and purchase a product online for a savings of 5%. When discovering an online discount of 20%, a small percentage of shoppers (13%) stay and complete their purchase in store.