Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

ARLINGTON, Va. and WASHINGTON - The National Retail Federation and the Retail Industry Leaders Association both issued statements supporting the final passage of a bipartisan agreement for extending critical individual and business taxes.

Of all the competitive threats facing Walmart, none looms larger in the minds of the retailer’s suppliers than the ongoing expansion and financial success of leading operators in the dollar store segment. That’s according to Walmart suppliers who participated in a survey conducted by Connecting Northwest Arkansas and identified such chains as Dollar General and Family Dollar as the greatest competitive threat to Walmart during the next five years.

Walmart has been a non-player in toys this year, according to Eric Johnson, director of the Center for Digital Strategies at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business. He was quoted in a Bloomberg article this week about how Walmart increased toy prices after Thanksgiving weekend. Johnson is regarded as something of a toy expert, so he pops up in holiday stories and he has been critical of Walmart this year.

Looking for insight into promotional efforts at Walmart and other retailers? Check out the new series of reports from ECRM at a newly launched website at www.promotionalreflections.com.

The folks in the electronics and entertainment area at Walmart had to be smiling this week at Best Buy’s admission that it lost market share to discounters during the third quarter. The share loss resulted in a 5% same-store sales decline at U.S. stores that was well below guidance that called for flat to modest growth. Earnings per share of 54 cents were well below consensus estimates of 60 cents and full-year guidance was reduced to a range of $3.20 to $3.40 from a range of $3.55 to $3.70.

NEW YORK - The Deloitte Spending Index, comprising four components -- tax burden, initial unemployment claims, real wages and real home prices -- fell to 4.29%, from an upwardly revised gain of 4.71% a month ago. According to Deloitte the decline was primarily due to sustained weakness in the housing market despite incremental gains in other areas.  

According to a new survey from customer intelligence firm, Market Force Information, The Children's Place is consumers' top pick for young children's (10 and younger) apparel when the votes are indexed for the number of stores. The Children's Place earned 17% of the votes, while Gymboree ranked second (13%), and Kohl's and Carter's tied for third with 12%. For children 11 and older, Aeropostale was ranked favorite retailer with 17% of the votes, followed closely by Kohl's (16%) and then Old Navy (10%).

Washington – After a solid start to the holiday season, the National Retail Federation announced that it is revising its holiday forecast to 3.3%, up from 2.3%. The upward revision is due to improvement in a variety of economic indicators including stock market gains, recent income growth, savings built up during the recession - all giving consumers the capacity to spend.