Consumer Analytics

There are a lot of options in decorating a home, and Los Angeles-based specialty home furnishings retailer Z Gallerie wants to match its offerings to customer tastes.

“We’ve been known for one particular style which our customers love and that we’ve done quite well with,” said Chris Nicklo, VP of customer and chief marketing officer of Z Gallerie, during an interview with Chain Store Age. “But to grow, we knew we would need to appeal to a broader spectrum of customers.”

It has been roughly four months since the Oct. 1, 2015 liability mandate for U.S. retailers to adopt EMV – how much progress has been made?

The results are in, and there is no question about what is happening with mobile retail.

According to a new study of 1.4 billion online transactions during fourth quarter 2015 from performance marketing technology provider Criteo, mobile transaction share grew 15% from the same quarter the prior year. Mobile transactions accounted for 30% of all online transactions in the quarter.

Consumer trend data shows that more than half of digital shoppers will use one specific channel for making purchases at least once within a year.

According to a new report from eMarketer, 95.1 million Americans ages 14 and older, or 51% of digital buyers, will make at least one purchase via a smartphone during 2017. This figure will rise to 55% by 2020.

Offering a high-quality, seamless digital shopping experience is no longer a competitive differentiator, but a competitive necessity.

This is the main finding of a new study from Kibo (the new company created from the merger of MarketLive, Shopatron and Fiverun), “The Digitally Demanding Consumer.” The survey of 3,000 U.S. and U.K. consumers shows a high degree of omnichannel activity. Sixty-two percent of U.S. shoppers perform online research before visiting a store, and 80% of all respondents prefer to buy online and have products shipped home.

Tops Markets, a 167-unit supermarket chain based in Williamsville, New York, is leveraging advanced analytics to transform both its loss prevention and customer service efforts.

Fashion and department stores, perhaps more than other retail segments, understand the benefits of visual merchandising. Consumers may set out to shop for a specific item, but seeing “that item” curated as part of an outfit with related garments and accessories is a surefire way to upsell complementary apparel.

For the fourth consecutive year, a department store has nabbed the top spot in a survey of the nation’s favorite fashion retailers.

Nordstrom took the top spot in the study, by Market Force Information.  Interestingly, severak discount retailers moved up the list this year, with Marshalls landing in the No. 2 spot. H&M and Ross Dress for Less tied for third, Kohl’s was fourth and Macy’s was fifth.  

Consumers know about Apple Pay, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are conducting mobile payments with it.

According to a December 2015 survey of 1,300 U.S. household financial decision-makers, including 580 iPhone 6 users, conducted by First Annapolis Consulting Inc. awareness of Apple Pay is quite high. Among all survey respondents, 73% have heard of Apple Pay, while awareness jumps up to 84% for the sub-group of iPhone 6 owners.

Online retail platform Jet is getting a better idea of how well its customer service efforts are working with a new tool from service measurement/optimization company StellaService.