Research Topic

More Americans are planning holiday-related purchases this year than in 2014, and those who plan to shop will spend more over a longer period of time, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Simple physical packaging doesn’t cut it for today’s omnichannel consumer.

Although 85% of U.S. adult shoppers say reading a product package helps them make in-store purchase decisions, 78% have wanted additional information about a product after reading a product's package, according to a new Harris Poll commissioned by Digimarc Corp.

PayPal is helping U.S. customers and retailers with a new shipping perk.

The payment services platform is expanding Return Shipping on Us, a service that refunds return shipping costs to consumers on eligible online purchases, to the U.S.

A new report from Nielsen offers concrete evidence that brands really can do well by doing good.

A landmark global report from Nielsen show that brands that demonstrate a commitment to sustainability grow faster than those that don’t. According to the 2015 Nielsen Global Corporate Sustainability Report, in the past year, sales of consumer goods from brands with a demonstrated commitment to sustainability have grown more than 4% globally, while those without grew less than 1%.

Physical credit cards may be going the way of DVDs and floppy disks.

According to new analysis from Bankrate.com cited by PayPal, 63% of millennials do not have a credit card. However, that does not mean they are abandoning credit-based purchases.

Millennials are now the fastest growing segment of PayPal Credit shoppers, rising to 33% of the total in 2015 up from 28% in 2013. Rather than shunning credit altogether, this influential group is turning to alternative credit services to help manage their finances.

Shoppers are starting their holiday shopping earlier every year — and it's partially due to a perception that the deals aren't all that great anymore on Black Friday.

According to RetailMeNot’s annual holiday Shoppers Trend Report, only 10% of consumers believe that it is worth waiting until Black Friday for deals.

The National Retail Federation issued an above average holiday season sales forecast in which the desire of Americans to spend will be offset by their ability to do so.

The trade group projects that total holiday sales will increase 3.7% to $630.5 billion during the November time-frame and that online sales would increase between 6% and 8% to represent $108 billion of the total.

For the 2015 holiday shopping season, the dollar figure forecast on consumer spend is less relevant for retailers, according to PwC's 2015 Holiday Outlook. Rather, a deeper understanding of the complex retail landscape and the focus on building long-term shopper relationships is how retailers will define success this year.

PwC outlines 10 big trends that are expected to drive the 2015 holiday shopping season:

Retailers constantly experiment to serve customer needs in new ways and HSN has taken that concept to a new level with an initiative involving Ford.
 
Through the end of October, HSN and Ford Motor Company are offering a “preferred price event” based on the core value proposition of a prenegotiated price on a wide range of the automaker’s models.
 

Jet is abandoning its fee model less than three months after it launched in order to broaden its appeal to shoppers.

The online marketplace startup announced Wednesday that it will get rid of its $50 annual membership fee.