Consumer Analytics

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.

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.

Beauty consumers are increasingly turning to mobile and social technology in their seamless shopping experiences.

According to a new study from Mintel, 45% of U.S. beauty consumers prefer to search for product information in-store rather than ask for assistance from a sales associate. Another 39% are interested in using or have used a store-provided tablet to research available beauty products.

Sixteen percent of in-store beauty customers go as far to purposely shop where sales associates will leave them alone.

While the digital technologies supporting omnichannel commerce often replace store associates, Saks Fifth Avenue is enhancing its human element.

Saks is leveraging Salesfloor, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that connects local retail sales associates with online shoppers for a more personalized customer experience. The suite of desktop and mobile Salesfloor solution enable in-store associates to provide customer service and sell products across web, mobile and social channels.

In a sign that omnichannel is becoming more important to Nike’s business, the vertical specialty athletic retailer has named Adam Sussman as its first chief digital officer.

Sussman will report to Trevor Edwards, president of Nike brand.

Prior to joining Nike, Sussman held multiple positions in the interactive gaming and entertainment industries, including EA Mobile and Disney Interactive. He has worked in areas including general management, marketing, strategic planning and digital product commercialization.

Consumers are generally willing to use mobile apps to assist with grocery shopping, and there is one retailer whose app is the clear favorite.

According to a new study from Blackhawk Engagement Solutions,’ “How Grocery Shoppers Shop: Changing Trends in Grocery Shopping,” the top used grocery app among U.S. consumers by a wide margin is Amazon (71%). This is followed by grocery store apps (28%), Walmart (26%) and Target (25%). Third-party savings apps are not used much, with use in the low single digits for the grocery channel.