Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

Chicago -- Year-over-year retail sales increased 6.5% for the week ending Jan. 1, according to ShopperTrak’s National Retail Sales Estimate, while the company’s Retail Traffic Index (SRTI) reported foot traffic rose 4.1% for the same period.

Princeton, N.J. -- A report released Tuesday by NAI Global said that real estate conditions worldwide had stabilized and were beginning to improve.

According to NAI Global’s 25th annual Global Market Report, after a prolonged, challenging period marked by frozen credit, sidelined investors, stalled development, rising vacancy rates and declining rental rates and property values, modest improvement is expected in just about every market sector and geography in 2011.

New York City -- A report released Tuesday by the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs Group said that U.S. retail sales are up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis.

Same-store sales at a selection of U.S. retailers rose 0.4% from the week ended Jan. 1 from the prior week, the groups also said.

Retailers who report monthly sales are set to report their best December results in several years this Thursday assuming preseason forecasts and in-season upward revisions prove accurate. Total holiday sales are forecast to increase in the low- to mid-single digits, and Thursday’s monthly results from the likes of Target, Macy’s, Kohl’s, TJX and others will offer an indication of how good a season it was.

While holiday sales overall were solid during the season just ended, a real bright spot was online where sales advanced 13% to a record level of nearly $31 billion, according to the online measurement firm comScore. For the 56-day period from Nov. 1 through Dec. 26, comScore data showed consumers turned to the Internet in record numbers, especially on such key days as Thanksgiving, Cyber Monday and the final day of free shipping on Dec.17 when online volumes surged 61% to $942 million.

Target.com was second only to Walmart.com in terms of the number of unique visitors its website attracted this holiday season, and as such is well positioned to capture a large share of this year’s record online spending. Total online holiday sales advanced 13% to nearly $31 billion, according to the online measurement firm comScore. For the 56-day period beginning Nov. 1 through Dec.

This should be interesting. “Target: Inside the Bullseye” is scheduled to air on CNBC Thursday, Jan. 13 at 9 p.m. EST. The documentary will repeat that evening at 10 p.m., 12 a.m. and 1 a.m. and will also re-air again on Jan. 15 at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.

Amazon and Netflix are the top scorers in terms on online customer satisfaction, according to the sixth annual ForeSee Results E-Retail Satisfaction Index (U.S. Holiday Edition). Both had a score of 86 on the study’s 100-point scale, with 80 generally considered the threshold for excellence. Here are the study’s top performers:

As retailers gather in New York City for the National Retail Federation’s Annual Convention and EXPO The new, post-recession American shopper is high maintenance, promiscuous and demands an innovative and engaging experience in-store and online. That’s the takeaway from a study released by Leo Burnett’s marketing services arm, Arc Worldwide .

U.S. consumers spent an estimated $36.4 billion in online purchases during the period Oct. 31 to Dec. 24, according to MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse, registering a 15.4% year-over-year increase over the 2009 holiday season.

SpendingPulse reports on national retail and services sales and is based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments network, coupled with survey-based estimates for all other payment forms, including cash and check.