Research Topic

Washington, D.C. – It may take a while, but most retailers ultimately plan to implement a unified commerce platform. According to a new study of 300 U.S., European and Australian retail business and IT executives conducted by the National Retail Federation, Ecommerce Europe and Ecommerce Foundation in partnership with Demandware, 53% expect to implement a unified commerce platform in the next few years. And during the next 10 years, 86% of retailers surveyed plan to implement a unified commerce platform.

It's time once again for confectionery and snack retailers, as well as manufacturers to come together for the Sweets & Snacks Expo, which is scheduled to be held May 19 through May 21 at Chicago's McCormick Place.

Washington, D.C. -- Restaurants will remain the nation’s hottest hirer this year.  An annual report by the National Restaurant Association indicated that, as it has for the last 16 years, the restaurant industry employment will outpace employment growth in 2015.

NEW YORK — A survey conducted in eight world markets during the latter half of January 2015 revealed insights on online purchasing habits of consumers in winter. The survey was jointly carried out with One Hour Translation and Google Consumer Surveys and was based on a sample of 800 respondents — 100 from each of the following countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Japan.

New York -- Small formats are all the rage in retail these days, so no wonder the latest data from Nielsen shows 2014 was another year of record growth.

The U.S. convenience store count increased to 152,794 stores as of Dec. 31, a nearly 1% increase from the year prior, according to the 2015 NACS/Nielsen Convenience Industry Store Count.

Washington, D.C. – Valentine’s Day should be especially sweet for retailers this year. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF) Valentine’s Day Consumer Spending Survey conducted by Prosper Insights and Analytics, the average person celebrating Valentine’s Day will spend $142.31 on candy, flowers, apparel and more.

That figure is up 6% from $133.91 in 2013. Total spending is expected to reach $18.9 billion, a survey high.

New York – E-commerce revenue continued its strong growth trend of recent year in 2014. According to the Custora E-Commerce Pulse 2014 Holiday Recap Report, U.S. e-commerce revenue was up 15.6% from the 2013 holiday season.

Black Friday (20.6% year-over-year jump in revenue) and Cyber Monday (15.4% year-over-year revenue growth) were the two biggest single e-commerce shopping days of the 2014 holiday season.

New York - With gas prices down 31% since June 2014 and oil prices tumbling to their lowest levels in several years, American consumer confidence has improved dramatically. According to the Nielsen Consumer Confidence Report, in fourth quarter 2014 U.S. consumer confidence went up 12 percentage points year-over-year.

Overall holiday shopping season sales numbers have been rolling in, and the news confirms what many retail real estate analysts (including myself) suspected: 2014 holiday sales were strong. Nothing earth-shattering — but plenty good enough to chalk this one up as a win. There were some bright and not-so-bright spots (December sales were weaker than expected, for example, and numbers didn’t hit some of the more optimistic overall projections), but the takeaway is that we did see the anticipated increase that the industry was looking for.

Prepaid payment provider Blackhawk Network has created a new division dedicated to providing customized engagement, incentive and rebate programs for consumers, employees and sales channels.