Research Topic

New York - Retail sales in the U.S. will reach $4.87 trillion for the full year 2015. According to EMarketer analysis, this represents a 4% increase from 2014.

U.S. retail e-commerce sales will total approximately $350 billion in 2015, up 14% from $305.7 billion the prior year. Despite rapid growth, retail ecommerce will still account for just 7% of total retail sales in the U.S. during the current year, EMarketer estimates.

Boston – Nearly 300% more retailers plan to use mobile POS in the next two years, according to a special report by Boston Retail Partners (BRP).

Washington, D.C. -- The National Retail Federation credited the “power of the marketplace” in Walmart’s decision to increase wages of approximately 500,000 full-time and part-time associates in April to $9 an hour, which is well above the Federal minimum wage.

Washington, D.C. - Retail CIOs agree that security and digital innovation are top priorities for 2015, according to a new report by the NRF and Forrester Research.

The study, the Retail CIO Agenda 2015: Secure and Innovate, finds that managing data security is the most urgent focus area for retail CIOs, with 97% of respondents placing it at the top of their 2015 priority lists.  

San Jose, Calif. - Mobile commerce is growing at nearly three times the rate of overall e-commerce. According to a new study from PayPal and Ipsos, from 2013-2016, the multi-country average compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for mobile commerce is projected at 42%, compared to 13% for overall e-commerce (including mobile commerce).

Customer satisfaction with retail is on the decline for the first time in four years, according to a report by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).

The report says brick-and-mortar retail show weakening or flat customer satisfaction, while Internet retail is up from a year ago.

Chicago – Customer reviews are now an expectation, not an option, for e-commerce sites. According to a study analyzing the impact of user-generated content on consumer purchase behavior from ratings and reviews provider PowerReviews, consumers will abandon a site if it doesn’t provide the information they need.

Ann Arbor, Mich. - Customer satisfaction with retail is down for the first time in four years. According to a report by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), all brick-and-mortar retail categories show weakening or flat customer satisfaction for the fourth quarter of 2014.  Internet retail satisfaction, however, is up from the same quarter in 2013.