Consumer Analytics

PetSmart’s recent acquisition will help place pets with prospective forever families even faster.   The specialty pet retailer acquired AllPaws, one of the largest online and mobile platforms that matches those looking to adopt a pet with pets ideally suited for their home, family and lifestyle. Approximately 5,000 animal rescues and shelters across North America already utilize AllPaws to promote their adoptable pets.  

Online payment security is a top concern for merchants and consumers — but shoppers are leading the charge when it comes to protection.  

Best Buy wants to help its customers stay connected — for a price.    The consumer electronics chain’s Geek Squad is taking on local Internet service providers by launching a new service, called Wi-Fi Setup & Support, that offers comprehensive, personalized home Wi-Fi setup either over the phone, Web or in the customer’s home.      

The new retail is here and a sector that is definitely feeling the wave of this reality is the grocery industry. With the strong penetration of Aldi, Amazon’s move into online grocery, Wal-Mart’s purchase of Jet.com and the dreaded arrival in the U.S. of the highly competitive German grocery store Lidl, it’s no wonder grocers are fighting for survival in this ever-changing, highly saturated environment.   

Everyone across retail industry is preparing for the holiday shopping season — especially the hackers.   Shoppers will continue to use more payment methods — from debit and credit to mobile wallets — during the hectic holiday shopping season, and hackers are standing at the ready. Whether infiltrating in-store peripherals, firewalls or databases, hackers are prepared to invade retail networks, disrupt systems and steal valuable information.   

Omnichannel retailing continues to change customer shopping patterns, but “balance” spurs sales.   More specifically, consumers’ average single-trip spending increases nearly four times when engaged by both in-store staff and the brand’s website, according to a new report from InMoment.  

Retailers know that personalization equates to higher sales, but companies still struggle with execution.    Specifically, retailers are eager to offer personalized experiences to achieve higher sales. Failing to remove unintended barriers are only overwhelming shoppers, who then abandon shopping carts.  

Holiday sales may be on pace to increase this year, but sale-savvy shoppers will drive this boost.    The 10th annual “Accenture Holiday Shopping Survey” found that 42% of consumers said they rarely or never expect to pay full price for an item during the holiday season, and this year is no exception.   

With 46% of shoppers ready to start holiday shopping online and in-store in early November, retailers need to be ready.   As shoppers begin holiday shopping next month, make no mistake, mobility will be a mainstay this season, according to “Unwrapping Holiday Insights: The 2016 Retailer Guide to Consumer Trends,” a report from RetailMeNot.  

Digital infrastructures are growing more complex, and taking a toll on decision-making.   Eighty percent (80%) of IT operations leaders reported that end-user experience monitoring (EUM) is very important or critical to delivering business outcomes. However, as distributed infrastructures grow in complexity, it is becoming more difficult to provide information needed to make business decisions, according to a study by analyst and consulting firm Enterprise Management Associates (EMA).