Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

Armonk, N.Y. -- Survey results released Thursday by IBM said that Americans are increasingly upbeat about their plans for the Memorial Day weekend, with a huge increase this year in the amount of people talking about traveling and spending compared to last year.

According to the IBM Social Sentiment Index, the "Desire Ratio" – the proportion of positive versus negative comments about shopping – increased by a factor of five for this Memorial Day compared with last year.

Chicago -- A new study of global wealth and spending patterns by A.T. Kearney’s Global Consumer Institute projects $12 trillion in new consumer spending over the next decade, with the United States accounting for 25% of the spending growth. Spending on food will account for about 10% of the overall total.

Target may be investing in expanding its offering of fresh food under its PFresh remodeling initiative, but it has a long way to go before it is considered a top grocery destination, at least according to a survey from Market Force Information.

Walmart and the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation have teamed up to donate $1 million to fund the renovation and expansion of the current Sam M. Walton College of Business display, honoring Walmart’s founder, Sam Walton. Each organization donated $500,000 to update the display in the Business Administration Building on the University of Arkansas campus. 

Washington, D.C. -- With more than 60 million Americans forecast to own a tablet computer by the end of this year, retailers say tablets are driving an increasingly larger share of their web revenue. According to the 2012 Shop.org/Forrester Research Inc.’s State of Retailing Online survey, 49% of retailers say their average order value via a tablet is now higher than traditional web sales. Nearly three in 10 (28%) retailers say they are seeing about the same average order value from tablets as their website.

Boulder, Colo. — Giant-Landover and ShopRite are shoppers' two favorite supermarkets, according to results of a survey released Tuesday.

Toronto — That trip to the local restaurant is off the menu for consumers today, as are furnishings and electronics, Empathica reported on Thursday, citing its latest Consumer Insights Panel survey of more than 6,500 U.S. consumers. One-out-of-3 shoppers surveyed reported that the economy is still very much top of mind for them. But "need" items — gas, pharmacy and grocery — are not seeing declines in purchase intent compared to findings from this time the previous year, the report noted.

GRAPEVINE, Texas — Decreased demand for new video game hardware and software contributed to GameStop's 12.2% sales decline in global sales during the first quarter of 2012. Total global sales for the first quarter of 2012 were $2 billion compared with $2.28 billion in the prior year quarter, a decrease of 12.2%. As announced last week, consolidated comparable-store sales decreased 12.5% compared to the prior year quarter.