Research Topic

Survey: Many consumers will anonymously share data
Austin, Texas -- A majority of Americans would be comfortable divulging information about themselves anonymously to their favorite stores (60%) or a product brand (56%), and close to half would anonymously share personal data to an app (46%). According to a new national survey from Wearables.com and The Center for Generational Kinetics, some consumers will also share personal information in exchange for certain benefits.
Rodney Fitch dies
New York -- Retail design guru Rodney Fitch, 78, died on Oct. 20 at his home in Wiltshire, England, following a battle with cancer. Fitch founded the design firm of the same name in 1972, and was appointed Commander of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1990 for his ‘influence on the British Design Industry’. He left Fitch, which is now owned by WPP, at the end of 2009.

Survey: Data breaches scare away customers

Austin, Texas -- Almost half of Americans are likely to avoid shopping at stores that were affected by data breaches in the past year. According to a new CreditCards.com report, 45% of major credit and debit card holders say they would “definitely” or “probably not” shop at a retailer where consumers’ personal information (including credit and debit card data) was exposed.
IRI report: Trip frequency flat to negative in grocery and drug channels; basket size declines

Chicago -- More than 80% of shoppers visit three or more channels to carry out CPG shopping, according to IRI’s new Times & Trend report, “Channel Migration: The Road to Growth Has Many Lanes”.
Fashion in footwear is hard to find

Fashion footwear brand Steve Madden cited a curious lack of significant fashion trends when it lowered its full year financial outlook after reporting a third quarter sales decline.

The company, which is known to be a trend-setting in the footwear world, said sales for the period ended Sept. 30 declined 0.7% to $392 million and indicated full year sales were likely to increase 1% to 2%.
September retail sales show weakness

Washington, D.C. -- September retail sales, excluding automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants, decreased 0.1% seasonally adjusted month-to-month yet increased 4.6% unadjusted year-over-year. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), seasonal factors played a role, but the drop-off from August was worse than expected.
IHL: Epicor number one POS software vendor

Dublin, Calif. -- Epicor Software Corp., a provider of business software solutions for retail, manufacturing and distribution, has been named the number one vendor of POS software among the 200 leading specialty soft goods retailers and hard goods retailers for the fourth consecutive year in studies published by global research and advisory firm IHL Group. Epicor also was named a leader in the fast growing North American mobile POS software market, according to another new research report from IHL Group.
ICSC: Holiday shopping to begin early; electronics to be most popular gift

New York -- Holiday shopping is going to start early this year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers’ latest consumer tracking survey. About 35% of consumers have or will have started their holiday shopping by the end of October. Roughly three out of five shoppers will begin shopping by Thanksgiving this year, and by the end of the Thanksgiving weekend 86% will have started making purchases.
Survey: 63% of online shoppers never familiar with Alibaba

Los Angeles -- More than half (63%) of U.S. online shoppers are not familiar with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.com, according to a survey by Bizrate Insights, a division of Connexity (formerly Shopzilla).

Interestingly, respondents not familiar with the Alibaba brand or website skewed toward younger generations and women (who traditionally are the decision makers behind the lion’s share of retail).
Report: Total online Thanksgiving Day sales to top $1 billion

Wilmington, Del. -- Total online Thanksgiving Day sales will top the $1 billion mark this year for the first time ever, increasing year-over at least 23.4%, with most purchases made after 6 p.m., according to BestBlackFriday.com, a website providing information regarding holiday sale pricing, shopping tips and news.
NRF: Per-person holiday spending to rise 5%, with 44% of shopping done online

Washington, D.C. -- The average person celebrating Christmas, Kwanza and/or Hanukkah will spend $804.42, up nearly 5% from 2013’s actual $767.27, according to the National Retail Federation’s 13th annual Holiday Consumer Spending Survey, conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. In other results, the average shopper plans to do 44% of their holiday shopping online, the most in the survey’s history.
Land O’Lakes challenges food leaders

Ensuring the roughly nine billion people who are estimated to inhabit the planet by 2050 have enough to eat is a big challenge. That’s why Land O’Lakes has introduced new program to fund big ideas from future food leaders.