eCommerce

Hollywood, Calif. - Online and offline consumer conversations and recommendations account for 13% of consumer sales, on average, which represents $6 trillion in annual consumer spending. In higher price-point categories, word of mouth's impact is almost 20% of sales, according to a new study from the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA).

New York, N.Y. - Just more than half of all Americans (51%) plan to purchase toys as gifts in the upcoming holiday season, nearly consistent with the prior year's intent (50%). Not surprisingly, according to a new Harris Poll of 2,205 U.S, adults, parents of a child under the age of 18 are twice as likely to purchase toys as those without children younger than the age of 18 (82% compared 41%, respectively).   

LONDON — Macy's continues to innovate its omnichannel experience with  the launch of a new iOS app that incorporates image recognition and visual search software. The tool allows consumers to search through thousands of inventory items by simply using a picture snapped from their iPhone to find similar products available at Macys.com.

The photo search app was designed in the Macy's Idea Labs facility in San Francisco, and the software for the image recognition was developed and supplied by Cortexica, a leader mobile image recognition.


San Jose, Calif. – Black Friday (Nov. 28) is expected to be the busiest shopping day of 2014. According to data from in-store analytics provider RetailNext, it will be followed in order by four days in December: Dec. 20, 21, 13 and 19.
For the broader holiday period spanning November and December 2014, RetailNext predicts store traffic will be down 4% from the 2013 holiday period, while sales will be flat to 1% lower, conversions will be up 0.5% and average transaction value will rise 3.5%.

New Delhi, India – The India unit of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has reportedly fired a mid-level manager as part of a probe into alleged bribery violations. According to the Economic Times, Wal-Mart gave the manager a termination notice last week, two years after the company suspended its former India CEO and legal team due to possible violations of U.S. anti-bribery laws.

LOS ANGELES — Guitar Center has announced the appointment of Michael Amkreutz to the position of executive VP, marketing, merchandising and E-Commerce, for the Guitar Center brand.  He joins the retailer from Systemax North American Technologies, where he most recently held the role of chief marketing officer.

New York, N.Y. - Perceptions about private label are overwhelmingly favorable. Almost three-quarters of global respondents (71%) say store-brand quality has improved over time, according to a new study by Nielsen.
Price is a primary driver of purchase intent among 70% of global respondents, but quality is important, too. Two-thirds (67%) believe private labels offer extremely good value for money.

Milwaukee, W.I. - Most shoppers believe that the best time to shop online for Black Friday deals is on Black Friday itself. However after examining data from the past two years, the staff of Black Friday site GottaDeal.com has determined that the best time to shop online is actually late Wednesday night into early Thursday morning.