Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

A new poll regarding Walmart's possible entry in New York yielded quite different responses than the one the world's largest retailer featured on its promotional website. According to the New York Daily News, a survey of 300 small retail shop owners throughout the city overwhelmingly said they would not welcome a Walmart in their neighborhood.

Cincinnati -- A survey released Thursday by Cintas Corp. found that 99% of U.S. adults say poor cleanliness negatively impacts their perception of a retail store.

In the telephone survey conducted by Harris Interactive among more than 1,000 U.S. adults ages 18 and older, respondents said that dirty restrooms and unpleasant odors are more annoying than poor customer service.

Washington, D.C. -- A report released Thursday by the Labor Department said that U.S. claims for initial jobless benefits last week posted their biggest decline in nearly a year.

The drop erased the holiday-related spike, and illustrated that a healthier labor market remains intact.

MINNEAPOLIS — During the Super Bowl, football fans look forward to guilt-free snacking and will fumble on healthy eating goals for the day, according to the 2011 Supervalu Snack Down Survey by Harris Interactive.

New York City -- Consumer spending will rise 3% this year, according to retail analysts at S&P Equity Research. While the majority of publicly traded retailers were able to capture share in 2010 from smaller competitors or those that were forced to declare bankruptcy, and also increase profit margins, the S&P retail analysts see 2011 as another good year.

Mountain View, Calif. -- Survey results released Tuesday by CyberSource, a Visa Co., showed that the online fraud rate has remained flat in the United States and Canada; however, U.K. merchants are seeing a rise in e-commerce fraud.

According to the annual surveys of e-commerce fraud in North America and the United Kingdom, the 2010 fraud rate (the percent of accepted orders which later turn out to be fraudulent) remained at 0.9% for the second straight year.

By George F. Brown, Jr., [email protected]

The increased pace of merger and acquisition activity late in 2010, including some huge deals, suggests that 2011 will be an active year. Low interest rates, significant cash on many firms’ balance sheets, and stock prices that are low enough to attract buyers but high enough to move sellers off the sidelines all reinforce that possibility.

Washington, D.C. -- Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to be up 8% in January over the same month last year, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by NRF and Hackett Associates.

Washington, D.C. -- Retail sales rose for a sixth consecutive month in December, with big gains in sales of autos and furniture. The increases lifted sales activity for the year by the largest amount in more than a decade.

Sales rose 0.6% last month to a level of $381 billion, the Commerce Department said Friday, less than the 0.8% economists had expected. However, the increase pushed sales for all of 2010 up 6.7%, the largest annual increase since 1999. Excluding autos, retail sales rose 0.5% last month.

Walmart announced that it is funding Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom, a new initiative aimed at increasing breakfast consumption among schoolchildren and highlighting the academic and nutritional benefits of eating in the morning.

Walmart Foundation donated $3 million to the initiative being run collectively by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), National Association of Elementary School Principals Foundation, National Education Association Health Information Network, and School Nutrition Foundation.