Consumer Analytics

Social media users would rather post positive feedback to retailers than post a complaint, according to a new survey.

Research from eDigitalResearch reveals that consumers are predominantly using social media as a tool to give positive feedback. Of the 2,000 consumers surveyed who have used social media to contact a brand in the past year, 6% have used social media to send positive feedback about a company compared to 2% who said they have used this touch point to send a complaint.

Boot Barn is stepping up its e-commerce game with the acquisiton of Sheplers for a purchase price of $147 million.

Denton, Texas - Sally Beauty Holdings Inc. is releasing new information about a data breach that occurred at varying times between March and April 17, 2015, its second in less than a year. Criminals are believed to have used malware deployed on some Sally Beauty POS systems, which may have put payment card information of customers at risk.

By Jeff Trachsel

Showrooming has plagued brick-and-mortar retailers for years, with e-commerce quickly chipping away at in-store sales. Recently however, experts report the rising trend is actually the reverse - shoppers are now exploring options online before buying in-store. According to a 2014 report from BI Intelligence, reverse showrooming, or webrooming, is actually more common among U.S. consumers, with 69% of consumers researching online before transacting in-store.

Columbus, Ohio – As an omnichannel retailer of big ticket furniture items through the American Signature and Value City banners, 120-store American Signature Inc. knows its shoppers do their homework online before visiting a store. To link the store and digital experiences as seamlessly as possible, American Signature employs technology from Boston-based Blueport Commerce.

Toronto – Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. is providing members of its Shoppers Optimum loyalty program with My Optimum. My Rewards, a new personalized digital experience. The new digital platform includes an enhanced Shoppers Drug Mart app and a digital Optimum card.

Optimum members will now receive personalized offers and points via their mobile device, email or the Web, and can load them to their digital or plastic Optimum card. They can also scan their digital Optimum card directly from their smartphone to earn and redeem points.

Armonk, N.Y. – IBM has released new industry-specific solutions with pre-built predictive analytics capabilities for industries including retail, to uncover and act on critical business insights. IBM is working with retail signature design partners including Urban Outfitters.

Carpinteria, Calif. – America’s love affair with credit cards continues heating up. According to The Nilson Report, purchase volume at merchants for general purpose-type consumer and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid cards issued in the U.S. totaled $4.91 trillion in 2014, up 8.4% from 2013.

Credit cards increased their market share in purchase volume compared to debit and prepaid cards to 53.59% in 2014, up from 52.95% in 2013.

New York -- The Kate Spade New York brand has entered into a partnership with True Fit, a fit personalization service, to provide personalized fit and size recommendations for the brand’s apparel and footwear on Katespade.com.

The site will also feature True Fit’s new shoe user experience that delivers accurate fit ratings and size recommendations to consumers while also communicating the nuance of each shoe style.

Boston – The stereotype of the beleaguered customer service representative who can’t keep up may have some truth to it. A recent study from Glance Networks, a provider of visual engagement, found that 73% of customer service professionals have difficulty meeting their performance metric goals.