Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

Sequential improvements in delinquency rates in Targets’s credit card portfolio just keep coming as the percentage of accounts 60 and 90 days past due fell yet again in May.

The number of accounts 60 day’s past due dropped to 3.1% in May compared with 3.3% in April while the number of accounts 90 days past represented just 2.3% of the total portfolio in May compared to 2.4% in April.

New York City -- Office Depot has reached an agreement with Colorado’s attorney general to offer a refund to about 115 Colorado governmental agencies and nonprofits in connection with the sale of office supplies between January 2006 and March 2009, the Denver Business Journal reported.

The agreement calls for the chain to refund customers as much as $189,000.

It’s the time of year when retailers engage in the annual Dads and Grads promotional extravaganza, and Target is promoting the Apple iPad at $499 as a gift-giving solution.

The iPad appeared on a full-page ad in this week’s circular along with other Apple products such as the iPhone 4 and the iPod Touch.

Not that dads and grads wouldn’t want an iPad, and it never hurts to feature an item that shoppers can aspire to, but the iPad would appear to be out of the price range of most gift-givers, especially where Father’s Day is concerned.

An amazing variety of people shop at Walmart stores, which is understandable given the company’s often cited statistic that 140 million people visit its stores weekly. This diversity of customers is one of the things that makes Walmart unique as this video from singer Jessica Frech cleverly illustrates in a light-hearted way. Click here to watch.

Driving same-store sales at U.S. stores is the top priority of Walmart U.S. president and CEO Bill Simon and his boss, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., president and CEO Mike Duke. Both executives stated U.S. comp growth is their top priority on Friday and went on to add that they are confident the company has the right strategy and people in place to make it happen.

Oak Brook, Ill. -- The J.D. Power and Associates 2011 U.S. Home Improvement Retailer Store Satisfaction Study again ranked Ace Hardware “Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Home Improvement Retail Stores.” Ace has held this position since the organization began researching the home improvement category five years ago.

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New York City -- A jobs report on Friday that showed a slowing hiring market sent retail shares tumbling. According to the Labor Department, U.S. employers added just 54,000 new workers in May, the fewest in eight months. With unemployment at 9.1%, those retailers most closely tied to the job market, including Staples and Office Depot, saw the most negative impact.