Research Topic

Forrester: 90% of mobile users are “purchase holdouts”
New York -- Ninety percent of mobile phone users and 80% of tablet users are still “purchase holdouts” and have not made a purchase on these respective devices in the past three months, according to a Forrester survey of more than 4,000 respondents. Some 53% of holdouts cite that they avoid "checking out" on mobile devices simply because they are either used to buying, or find it easier to buy, on a PC.
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Amazon Q3 loss widens to $437 million; sales up 20% to $20.58 billion

Seattle -- The red ink got worse at Amazon in its third quarter as the Internet giant reported a net loss of $437 million in the third quarter, worse than analysts expected, compared with a net loss of $41 million in the year-ago period.
Report: Sears closing more stores

New York -- Investor website Seeking Alpha reported on Thursday that Sears Holdings Corp. is closing more than 100 stores and laying off at least 5,457 employees. The report, which Sears said was inaccurate, said the shutterings include 30 Sears stores, 31 Sears Auto Centers and 46 Kmart stores.
Snagajob: Seasonal retail workers average $10.30 per hour

Richmond, Va. -- Employers in the hospitality industry will pay the highest average wage for holiday employees at $11.80 per hour, followed by retail at $10.30, and food service at $9.40, according to a survey by Snagajob, which provides recruitment and hiring solutions to the hourly industry.
Emarketer: U.S. e-commerce to reach $303 billion in 2014

New York -- Retail e-commerce in the US grew 16.5% in 2013 to reach $264.3 billion, and will increase another 15.7% in 2014 to reach $305.7 billion, or 6.5% of all U.S. retail sales, according to Emarketer. In other findings, mobile retail sales in the U.S. totaled $42.28 billion in 2013, 16% of all U.S. retail ecommerce sales, and will increase another 37.3% to reach $58.07 billion in 2014, accounting for 19% of the total US ecommerce market.
Survey: Half of consumers will order online gifts days before Dec. 25

London, U.K. - Almost half (47%) of consumers will order gifts online this Christmas with less than a week until Dec. 25. According to the latest ECustomerServiceIndex results from EDigitalResearch and IMRG, when asked what date they would be comfortable placing a holiday online order, the majority of consumers (53%) said Wednesday Dec. 17 or before.
Panjiva: U.S. imports down in September

New York –- Imports to the U.S. were down in September from August, but still there was a measurable year-over-year increase. Sept. 2014 showed levels of imports 7% above imports in Sept. 2013.
Survey: More than half of U.S. consumers will shop online for holidays

Washington, D.C. –- More than half of U.S. consumers plan to make at least some of their holiday purchases online this year.
Retail Properties of America receives investment grade rating from S&P

Oak Brook, Ill. -- Retail Properties of America, Inc. announced that it was assigned a BBB-corporate credit rating from Standard and Poor’s Ratings Services with a stable outlook. S&P indicated in its announcement that the rating reflects RPAI’s measured investment and operating strategy, and strengthening portfolio fundamentals.
Mixed Use: A Mixed Bag

By Bruce Leonard and John Cumbelich
American Express: Holiday shopping on smartphones and tablets up 53% in two years

New York -- Using smartphones and tablets to shop for the holidays has grown by 53% since 2012, and is expected to play a big role in decision making and actual purchases this year, according to the American Express Spending & Saver Tracker. The report finds the average American consumer is back to holiday spending at 2012 levels, and will plan to shell out $842 this year (vs. $1,260 in 2013 and $848 in 2012). Consumers saying they will use their gadgets to: