Research Topic

Hangzhou, China –- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. reported net income of $494 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2014, down 39% from $803 million in the same quarter the prior year. Items including share-based compensation expense and the amortization of intangible assets helped drive down net income.  

Boston -- The current use of social media data by retailers for merchandise planning is limited, with only 39% using it for product development and only 35% using it for promotional planning.

The National Retail Federation has made a major change to the format and content of its annual trade show and convention, known as the Big Show, which is held every January in New York.

Anyone planning to attend the NRF Convention Jan. 11-14, 2015, should consider arriving one day early to attend another event that is chock-full of information and industry expertise: SuperSaturday. Each year, RetailROI independently offers SuperSaturday, a one-day event held the Saturday before the official Sunday kickoff to the NRF Convention.

This year, SuperSaturday falls on Jan. 10. Held at the PwC Auditorium in Manhattan from 8 a.m.

New York -- Consumer confidence in the North America region improved four points to 107 on the Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index for the third quarter of 2014. Consumer confidence levels above and below a baseline of 100 indicate degrees of optimism and pessimism, respectively, with the latest results reflecting an outlook of cautious optimism.  

New York -- U.S. households plan to spend an average of $538 on gifts this holiday season, up slightly from $528 last year, The Conference Board reports today. About 8% of consumers say they plan to spend more this year on holiday gifts, while approximately 32% plan to spend less. The remaining 60% plan to spend about the same as last year.  

While hunger relief organizations are quick to point out that one in six American’s suffer from “food insecurity,” the Center for Science in the Public Interest is deriding retailers’ for contributing to the nation’s obesity epidemic.

Indianapolis -- More than eight in 10 (83%) of holiday shoppers will shop at the mall during the 2014 holiday season, and that percentage climbs to 89% of millennial shoppers age 18-33. According to the new "2014 Holiday Shopping Behavior Survey" from Simon, nearly nine in 10 (87%) respondents agree that "malls have the latest and hottest fashion and styles of the season."