Research Topic

Washington, D.C. -- A survey released by Shop.org and conducted by BIGinsight found that 129.2 million shoppers say they’ll head to retailers’ websites on Cyber Monday, up from the 122.8 million who shopped last year, and the 106.9 million who shopped on Cyber Monday in 2010.
 
The majority (85%) of retailers will have a special promotion for Cyber Monday, according to a prior survey.

Bentonville, Ark. -- As holiday shoppers prepared to battle crowds on Thanksgiving weekend, Wal-Mart workers and supports geared up to protest at stores nationwide, openly criticizing the retailers’ wages, benefits and treatment of employees.

Nine people were arrested in Paramount, Calif., including three Walmart employees, for blocking a busy street. About 1,000 people protested there.

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. — With the holiday season officially underway, North American market research company NPD has reported its findings on consumers’ holiday entertaining purchases.

The group’s Consumer Tracking Service, which culls data from the past 12 months ending Oct. 2012, found that 63% of housewares consumers enjoy hosting parties in their homes.

New York -- Apple Inc. operates the most successful retail stores by a significant margin, according to RetailSails, a retail and consumer goods consulting firm. Apple stores averaged $6,050 per sq. ft. in the past 12 months, double those of Tiffany & Co., which ranked second, generating sales of $3,017 per sq. ft.

Here is RetailSails list of the 10 retailers with the highest sales per square foot:

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Mars will receive the 2012 NASCAR Marketing Achievement Award at the NASCAR NMPA Myers Brothers Awards held at Encore at Wynn Las Vegas Thursday, Nov. 29.

Reston, Va. -- Online retail spending for the November – December period will reach $43.4 billion, a 17% gain versus year ago, according to comScore. The increase represents an improvement compared with last season’s 15% rise, and is also far ahead of the retail industry’s expectation for a 4.1% increase in consumers’ overall spending this holiday season.

Washington, D.C. -- The National Retail Federation reported that more than 35 million Americans visited retailers’ stores and websites on Thursday – up from 29 million last year – scoring deals on everything from hot electronic items to cashmere sweaters and toys.

According to an NRF survey conducted by BIGinsight over the weekend, traffic and spending grew over the entire weekend. More people than ever before also shopped online and in stores on Black Friday, as 89 million shoppers braved the crowds, up from 86 million last year.

Evanston, Ill. -- Many consumers who visit a store but then buy online are not driven there by price alone, but rather by a less-than-satisfactory in-store experience, according to results from the annual holiday shopping report by the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.