Research Topic

Gift card sales are expected to reach record levels again this holiday season and new research from the National Retail Federation (NRF) offers insight into the increased popularity of stored value products.

More than half of shoppers polled by NRF’s Gift Card Spending Survey said they will buy gift cards this holiday season because the cards allow the recipient to select their own gift. More than 25% of shoppers said gift cards are easier and faster to buy, and 3.8% said the cards help them stick to their holiday budgets.

When it comes to getting a great deal, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are big shopping days for consumers. But according to new research from Nielsen, men and women have different shopping behaviors on these two retail holidays.

Kohl’s is heading into the holidays with a loss of momentum after third quarter same store sales declined 1.8% and the company missed analysts’ earnings estimate by four cents.

The third quarter comp decrease of 1.8% was on top of a prior year decline of 1.6%. Total sales at the operator of 1,163 stores declined slightly to $4.37 billion from $4.44 billion. Net income declined to $142 million, or 70 cents a share, from $177 million, or 81 cents a share.

Washington, D.C. –- A large number of holiday shoppers are taking their time when it comes to starting the task of making holiday purchases. According to NRF’s Holiday Consumer Spending Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, 45.6% of holiday shoppers say they haven’t started shopping yet.  

Chicago -– The perception of men as not enjoying the process of grocery shopping may have some truth to it. More men are grocery shopping for themselves or their families now than in the past, but they’re not happy about it, reports The NPD Group.  

Arlington, Virginia –- Brick-and-mortar retailers have at least one good piece of news to cheer them up this fall. U.S. same-store retail sales were up 1.3%, or $3.9 billion, in October 2014, driven by a 2.2% increase in dollars per transaction, according to data from the Applied Predictive Technologies (APT) Index and historical U.S. Census data.   

Morrisville, N.C. --  Amazon.com’s same-store increase rate dropped from September to October 2013, but still more than doubled the same-store sales growth rate of overall e-commerce. According to data from cloud-based e-commerce solutions provider ChannelAdvisor, Amazon's October same-store sales came in at 32.4%, a decrease compared to August's 37.9%.  

San Francisco -- Euclid, the leader of in-store retail analytics, today releases its monthly retail benchmarks report to analyze shopper activity and behavior during the month of October.  

Cincinnati –- Half of all consumers dislike the idea of all-day Thanksgiving store shopping hours, although younger consumers are more open to it.   According to a survey of 1,001 U.S. consumers by loyalty services provider Loyalty One, 50% say all-day shopping hours on Thanksgiving Day are a bad idea that detracts from the traditional celebration.  

Tampa Bay, Fla. –- The community of Show Low, Arizona leads all U.S. cities in rates of chargebacks for credit card disputes, with a 2.2% chargeback rate. According to a new study from Chargebacks 911, a division of Global Risk Technologies, the top five cities (including multiple ties) are as follows:   1. 2.2% chargeback rate: Show Low, Arizona 85901