Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

New York City -- Mobile commerce is expected to reach $31 billion by the end of 2016, according to a new report from Forrester Research.

The report, “Mobile Commerce Forecast: 2011 to 2016,” predicts an annual compound growth rate of 39% for mobile commerce over the next five years.

The report predicts mobile commerce will reach $6 billion by the end of this year, $10 billion next year and $31 billion by 2016.

Washington, D.C. -- Organized retail crime should not be an issue solely addressed at the store level, according to the results of the National Retail Federation’s seventh annual Organized Retail Crime survey. More than half of retailers (49.6%) say they have been a victim of cargo theft in the past 12 months.

Repeated assurances by Walmart’s most senior executives that their top priority is growing U.S. same-store sales may be reassuring news to investors, but the company’s ability to do so by the end of the year now is a firmly established expectation. This is especially true, given the recent performance of once of the company top grocery competitors.

Washington, D.C.  -- Atlanta, Chicago and Dallas were identified as the cities most problematic with regard to organized retail crime (ORC) rings, according to the National Retail Federation’s seventh annual Organized Retail Crime survey. Of the 129 retail companies, 94.5% reported having been the victim of organized retail crime in the past 12 months, up 6% over last year.

The cities most problematic for ORC rings were:

It had been awful quiet on the organized labor front for a while, so news this week of the creation of a new union-backed anti-Walmart group serves as a reminder that unions are the equivalent of a bad case of herpes to Walmart. The discomfort and visible symptoms associated with their organizing activities occasionally subside, but there is no cure and eventually the company experiences another outbreak.

New York City -- Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel met with executives from six grocery chains, including Walgreen Co. Wal-Mart Stores and Aldi about eliminating food “deserts” in six Chicago neighborhoods, the Associated Press reported.

Emanuel showed a detailed map of Chicago food deserts and made business cases to the grocery executives for specific properties in each food desert area. He said 450,000 Chicagoan's don't have access to fresh food.

Washington, D.C. -- Eighty percent of building owners expect double-digit energy-price increases during the next year, causing owners to set an average energy reduction target of 12%, according to Johnson Controls’ fifth annual global Energy Efficiency Indicator survey.

HERSHEY, Pa. — Just one month after filling in as the interim leader of chocolate giant Hershey, John Bilbrey officially took the reigns as president and CEO of the company.

Bilbrey also was elected to Hershey's board of directors, Hershey said Wednesday. Bilbrey, who served as the company's EVP and COO until May, replaced David West, who exited left his post after 10 years to become the chief executive at Del Monte Foods.