Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

New York City -- Customers returning electronics products will cost U.S. consumer electronics retailers and manufacturers nearly $17 billion this year, an increase of 21% since 2007, according to a new Accenture research report. These costs include receiving, assessing, repairing, reboxing, restocking and reselling returned products.

New York City -- Retail sales rose 0.2% in November, following a 0.6% advance in October that was more than initially reported, according to figures released Tuesday by the Commerce Department in Washington. The November increase was the slightest gain in five months. Economists projected a 0.6% November increase, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. Purchases excluding automobiles also rose 0.2%.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Sears announced it will offer extended shopping hours at its stores in 260 markets to give customers extra time to shop for those last-minute gifts. The company announced that select stores will stay open until midnight everyday from Wednesday, Dec. 14 through Friday, Dec. 23. 

New York City -- Macy’s said Monday it has brought back its “24-hour” stores for three all-nighters beginning Dec. 21. Starting at 7 a.m., 14 Macy’s stores will stay open for 83 hours straight for non-stop shopping until Christmas Eve on Dec. 24 at 6 p.m.

Another 27 Macy’s stores will stay open until 2 a.m. on those same three nights.

New York City -- Lowe's Home Improvement is facing a backlash in the wake of its decision to stop advertising on a reality show about American Muslims. About 40 local and national Muslim and Arab-American leaders from around the nation are expected to participate Monday evening in a conference call to discuss the decision by the home improvement chain to pull its ads from the cable show "All-American Muslim,” The Detroit News reported.

The Holiday Shopping Season got off to a fast start with sales numbers increasing by 6.6% compared with last year, according to Shopper Trak. Promotional activity started earlier than usual and helped shoppers stay in the know as to where they could find the best deals. Leading up to Black Friday, increases were seen in print for both page counts and circular drops in many instances. In digital there were increases in volume and frequency of online, email and social promotions.  

Alexandria, Va. – The results of Gallup’s annual Honesty and Ethics survey reveal that pharmacists have ranked in the top three for the ninth consecutive year. In this year’s survey, pharmacists ranked second to nurses and ahead of doctors, moving up one place from last year’s survey.  Among respondents, 73% rated the honesty and ethical standards of pharmacists as “very high” or “high.”

RESTON, Va. — The holiday season-to-date has garnered $24.6 billion in online sales, a 15% increase above corresponding days last year, ComScore reported.

In addition to the 15% increase in spending recorded for the first 39 days of the holiday season, ComScore also noted that the most recent week (week ended Dec. 9) reached $5.9 billion in spending, an increase of 15% versus the corresponding week last year.