Research Topic

Shopper activity increased this October, in line with ShopperTrak expectations. Total retail store shopper traffic increased 2.4% compared to September 2013. Consumers who were off work for the Columbus Day holiday (Monday, Oct. 14) took advantage of store promotions to update their cold-weather wardrobes. Many others hit the stores to gather costumes, candies and other necessities for Halloween (Thursday, Oct. 31).

The five year old Green Works brand from Clorox is facing new competition on the natural products front following the launch of Walmart’s Great Value Naturals cleaning products.

Walmart said the introduction of Great Value Naturals furthers its commitment to making eco-friendly products more accessible and affordable and will be available in more than 2,000 stores and online.

Clorox introduced its Green Works brand in early 2008 and the line was prominently featured in Walmart promotional vehicles at the time.

New York – Retailers across a variety of verticals reported improved same-store sales during October 2013, compared to the same month in the previous year. Even embattled department store retailer J.C. Penney saw its same-store sales grow for the first time since December 2011, and specialty and apparel retail conglomerate L Brands and discount club retailer PriceSmart reported particularly impressive same-store sales results.

New York – The average consumer will spend $825 on holiday purchases in 2013, a 5% drop from last year. According to the new Brand Keys annual holiday survey, only 19% of shoppers surveyed indicated that they started shopping for the holidays in October, 5% fewer than 2012.

Austin, Texas - Multichannel selling is a reality for a majority of small-to-medium sized retailers, but payment processing capabilities lag far behind. According to a new research study commissioned by SecureNet Payment Systems and conducted in partnership with First Annapolis Consulting, more than 60% of retailers surveyed already accept payments in more than one channel, but are not well served by the payments industry today.

Los Angeles – A majority of customers visit stores equipped with mobile devices. According to a new survey from mobile technology provider Useablenet, 70% of U.S., shoppers and 60% of U.K., shoppers have their mobile phone on their person in-store.

And 30% of U.S. shoppers use their smartphones to aid the shopping experience in-store, compared to 40% in the U.K. In addition, 77% of U.S., and 81% of U.K., consumers prefer to browse on smartphone but make purchases on a larger device, such as tablet or computer

San Francisco – Twitter began trading shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Nov. 7 after reportedly raising $1.82 billion in its IPO. According to Bloomberg, Twitter sold 70 million shares at $26 each in its IPO, giving it a $14.2 billion market capitalization that is 12.4 times estimated 2014 sales of $1.14 billion.

Twitter will trade on NYSE under the TWTR symbol. The company’s revenue reached $534.5 million in the 12 months that ended Sept. 30, 2013.

San Jose, Calif. -- Despite the shortest shopping season since 2002, online sales look strong for the upcoming holidays. A new survey from Adobe predicts record growth for online sales on Thanksgiving with $1.1 billion and Black Friday with $1.6 billion, increases of 21% and 17%, respectively.

Los Angeles -- Earlier in October, shoppers were put off by holiday displays in store; now people are warming up to them. Analysis of social media buzz for the week of Oct. 30 – Nov. 5 by social media research firm Fizziology shows that positive conversation about displays rose from 15% to 22%, while negatives dropped from 10% to less than 1%.

Austin, Texas – Smartphones are starting to edge out other popular forms of consumer technology as holiday gifts. According to a new survey from RetailMeNot and The Omnibus Company, within the next five years, less than one-in-five winter holiday gift givers plan to buy someone a portable music player (19%), desktop computer (19%), GPS device (13%) or regular cell phone (9%) for the holidays.