Consumer Analytics

Target has unveiled a section of its website that features products that are trending on hot social media site Pinterest.

The Target Awesome Shop is a shoppable catalog that features a curated crop of products from several lines, including beauty, each of which is among those most pinned on Pinterest in the last few days, but only if they have at least a four-star guest review.

New York -- Target is testing a section of its website that features products popular on Pinterest.

The Target Awesome Shop includes products from several lines, including beauty, each of which is among those most-pinned on Pinterest in the last few days. The products are mentioned only if they have at least a four-star guest review.

The website is currently in beta testing and was put together "in a matter of a few weeks" by Target's Rapid Accelerated Development team, a small group of digital experts working for the company.

Atlanta -- Year-over-year retail dollar volume growth during Thanksgiving and Black Friday was strong at 9.0%, and a significant increase compared to last year’s growth of 5.6%, according to First Data Corp.’s SpendTrend analysis, which tracks same-store consumer spending by credit, signature debit, PIN debit, EBT, closed-loop prepaid cards and checks at U.S. merchant locations.

New York -- Verizon Enterprise Solutions is launching a new managed, cloud-based Wi-Fi for business solution aimed at retail and food service environments. The solution is designed to be easy to deploy while enabling businesses to improve customer service, customer loyalty and business processes.

By Gary Ambrosino, president, TimeTrade

The November Consumer Confidence Index made headlines as the numbers slumped to the lowest point within the last six months. On the surface, this could cause concern for retailers this holiday season. However, when you’re in a store, how often do you actually think about an economic indicator when you’re deciding how much to spend?

Waldorf, Germany -- Black Friday social mentions more than doubled those of Cyber Monday this year. But a new infographic from SAP shows that consumers felt the most excited and happy about Cyber Monday.

Genesco, the company behind Lids and Journeys, is the latest company to express concern about the holiday season and lower fourth-quarter expectations after producing a solid third-quarter performance.

Black Friday social mentions more than doubled those of Cyber Monday this year. But a new infographic from SAP shows that consumers felt the most excited and happy about Cyber Monday.

Coral Gables, Fla. -- The likelihood that shoppers will make a purchase online is directly related to the number of product options that are displayed and to how the product information is displayed, either visually or with text. Research from the University of Miami School of Business Administration found when larger assortments of products (i.e. many options) are displayed with images rather than text, shoppers are less likely to purchase a product.

Ann Arbor, Mich. – Facebook is the lowest scoring brand in the overall ForeSee Customer Experience Index, with a score of 69. The index, a study that examines how today's customer experiences with the top 100 brands across seven industries as reported by Interbrand are predictive of companies' future business success, shows that while Amazon dominates retail industry at the brand level (87), Nordstrom (86), Coach (85), Costco (84) and Tiffany (84) are statistically within reach of the leader.