Research Topic

Montpelier, Vt. – The Vermont state legislature has voted to raise the minimum wage in the state from $8.73 an hour to $10.50 an hour. The increase will occur gradually during a four-year period and Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin is expected to sign the bill.

“We're raising the minimum wage higher in each of the next four years, joining a growing number of states nationwide that are moving on their own in the face of congressional inaction," Gov. Shumlin said in a prepared statement.

San Diego - While showrooming, the process of researching in-store before buying online, remains popular among 76% of consumers, the emerging trend of webrooming, or researching online before buying in-store, is even more common, representing 88% of shoppers. According to “The Rise of Webrooming: A Changing Consumer Landscape,” a report from Interactions, 75% of webroomers believe they can find the lowest in-store price, while 72% prefer online product comparisons and 71% prefer online product research.

Reston, Va. -- A report by comScore showed that, in the first quarter, desktop-based e-commerce rose 12% year-over-year to $56.1 billion, marking the 18th consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and 14th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth.

M-commerce spending on smartphones and tablets added $7.3 billion for the quarter, up 23%, for a digital commerce spending total of $63.4 billion in the first quarter.
 

Retail sales rose ever so slightly in April, putting a damper on hopes of a sharp uptick in economic growth in the second quarter. According to the U.S. Commerce Department, retail sales, which include categories such as automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants, rose 0.1% in April, following a revised 1.5% increase in March that ranked as the biggest since March 2010.

Westlake Village, Calif. - Senior retail marketers report that 38% of their total marketing spend is now devoted to digital. According to a research study released by Conversant, nearly 20% of retail marketers reported that digital accounts for 50% to 75% of their total marketing budget.

The new study found strong retailer interest in personalized marketing and advertising. Eighty-six percent of senior retail marketers said that individualized messages can be more effective than mass messages.

Washington, D.C. - Retail sales rose ever so slightly in April, putting a damper on hopes of a sharp uptick in economic growth in the second quarter. According to the U.S. Commerce Department, retail sales, which include categories such as automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants, rose 0.1% in April, following a revised 1.5% increase in March that ranked as the biggest since March 2010.

A shrinking net loss was the only positive result from the tough first quarter fiscal 2014 numbers posted by Caché. Net loss shrank to $10.8 million from $17.8 million in the same quarter a year earlier.

Caché’s net sales dropped 11% to $47.4 million, from $53.5 million. Same-store sales declined 8.9%, with the shift in Easter contributing. Jay Margolis, Caché’s chairman and CEO, tried to strike an encouraging tone.

Atlanta - Consumer year-over-year spending growth of 4.1% gained momentum in April 2014 compared to the prior month’s growth of 3.1%, driven by warmer weather as well as the Easter shift into April this year, according to First Data SpendTrend analysis. The report, which tracks same-store point-of-sale data by credit, signature debit, PIN debit, EBT, closed-loop prepaid cards and checks from nearly four million merchant locations serviced by First Data, shows transaction growth of 3.5% in April,  compared to March’s 2.7% growth.