Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

In the February issue of Chain Store Age, in our focus on mall-based social media (page 52), we referenced a fourth quarter 2010 study by Alexander Babbage, entitled the “Shopping Center Social Media Benchmark Report.”

Following are more details about the study, which found that “social media tools and networks are making it easier for shopping centers to relay information, interact with customers and generally stay connected.” 

Feeling confident that the worst is behind them, most retailers are ready to expand again as they turn their attention from steadying the ship to actively growing their business. That’s the big takeaway from Retail Horizons: Benchmarks for 2010, Forecasts for 2011 report. The annual study, sponsored by KPMG and the National Retail Federation Foundation, is widely acknowledged as the definitive state of the industry report.

Washington, D.C. -- A report released Tuesday by the National Restaurant Association said that restaurant industry sales are expected to reach a record $604 billion and post positive growth in 2011 after a three-year period of negative real sales growth.

The Association’s 2011  Restaurant Industry Forecast projects an industry sales increase of 3.6% over 2010 sales, which equals 1.1% in real (inflation-adjusted) terms.

Washington — U.S. consumer spending rose more than expected in December as Americans spent at the fastest pace in three years. The Commerce Department reported that spending rose 0.7% in December, the sixth straight monthly increase.

For all of 2010, consumers boosted spending 3.5%, the best performance since pre-recession 2007, when spending rose 5.2%. The government reported that consumer spending rose at a 4.4% rate in the final three months of 2010.

Target took the 21st spot out of a list of 46 retailers ranked for their customer service. Zappos.com took the top spot followed by Amazon.com and LL Bean. Walmart was ranked 27.

Other retailers in the top ten include Overstock.com (4), JCPenney (6) and Kohl's (7).

A monthly pricing survey conducted by Credit Suisse in December shows that Walmart remains the lowest price on a basket of 60 products across two major markets, Target is closer than ever and is actually less expensive for those who take advantage of the 5% Rewards program.

A lack of disclosure among retailers regarding their online operations makes it challenging to understand what went on online this past holiday season. While comScore reported it was a record year from a sales perspective with November and December sales advancing 12% to $32.6 billion, data from the online measurement firm also showed that most major retailers saw fewer unique visitors to their websites in December 2010 than during the same month the prior year.

New York City - A report released Monday by The Conference Board said that labor demand rose sharply in January after being relatively flat during the last half of 2010. 

According to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine Data Series, online advertised vacancies rose 438,000 in January to 4,273,000.  With the January increase, labor demand has risen 1.44 million since the series low point in April 2009. This increase now offsets approximately 80% of the 1.76 million drop in ad volume during the two-year downturn period from April 2007 through April 2009.