Research Topic

Chicago - Renewed consumer spending is in line with pre-recession trends and consumer optimism is higher than it's been in years. In 2013, Mintel estimates that personal consumption expenditures on consumer goods reached $10 trillion for the first time.

Amazon.com took second place overall and was the highest-ranked retailer in the 2014 Temkin Customer Service Ratings, which rates 233 companies across 19 industries with 10,000 U.S. consumers. Other retailers in the top 12 include Chick-fil-A, Publix, H-E-B, Starbucks, Costco, QVC, and Trader Joe's.

Retailers with the most improvement over last year's ratings are Apple Store, KFC, and Food Lion. Ace Hardware and Staples saw their Temkin Customer Service Ratings fall by 15 points or more between 2013 and 2014: No retailers placed at the bottom of the rankings.

Indianapolis – Hhgregg Inc. swung to a net loss of $7.2 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, compared to net income of $9.9 million in the same period the prior fiscal year. Net sales dropped 10% to $538.3 million, from $597.6 million.

A same-store sales decline of 10% affected both net income and sales, and charges related to Hhgregg’s planned exit from the mobile phone business also helped drive its net loss.

Despite seeing increases in net income and sales for the first quarter, TJX — parent company of TJ Maxx and Marshalls — experienced weakness in apparel sales and missed analysts’ expectations.

Net income for the quarter was $454.32 million, compared to $452.89 million from the prior-year quarter. Net sales increased 5% to $6.49 billion from $6.19 billion, but were weaker-than-expected — analysts were anticipating $6.6 billion.

Same-store sales remained flat.

Boulder, Colo. - Trader Joe’s is North America’s favorite grocery retailer based on satisfaction. A study of more than 6,200 consumers by Market Force Information, also found that Publix and Aldi were ranked second and third.

Stockholm, Sweden - The Analysis Division of Tobii Technology is launching Tobii Glasses 2, a wearable eye-tracking research system in the world. Based on a new, proprietary, wearable eye-tracking platform from Tobii that will support research and consumer applications, Tobii Glasses 2 offers wireless live viewing.
Key new features of Tobii Glasses 2 include:

Houston – Stage Stores Inc. reported a net loss of $18.79 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2014, up from a net loss from $6.86 million in the same period a year earlier. Net sales slightly declined to $372.04 million from $372.1 million, while same-store sales decreased 0.2%.

New York - Nearly a quarter of packages purchased online and tested during a six-month period did not meet the basics for adequate shipping. In a study spanning six months of data, conducted from October 2013 to March 2014, StellaService Analysts placed 2,855 orders with 125 leading online retailers to measure the quality of the shipping and returns experience.