Consumer Analytics

Jim Riesenbach, CEO of indoor location analytics solutions provider iInside, recently had a conversation with Chain Store Age about the numerous advantages both retailers and consumers can obtain from precise understanding and analysis of how customers move and shop inside the store.

How can both retailers and consumers benefit from targeted, accurate indoor location metrics?

Smart Furniture uses 3-D tools to personalize online furniture-shopping process

The furniture industry is often seen as old-fashioned and perhaps a bit stodgy. But that isn’t stopping Smart Furniture from applying leading-edge technology to provide a highly personalized online means of browsing, selecting, purchasing and even designing furniture.

In August, women’s specialty apparel retailer Coldwater Creek, which operates 402 stores in 47 states, announced it had landed Deborah Cavanagh as its new chief marketing officer. She is charged with leading the multichannel brand’s marketing and creative services. One of Cavanagh’s first orders of business? To re-engage the Coldwater Creek core customer, as well as connect with new ones.

Seattle -- Zoomingo, the personalized shopping discovery app that helps shoppers find the best deals in their local stores and malls, announced an agreement with Simon Property Group, the largest mall operator in the U.S., to market the Zoomingo app for the upcoming 2013 holiday shopping season.

The love affair between retailers and loyalty programs is in serious distress. Several major retailers have cut or reduced their loyalty programs and more are considering a trial separation. Customers seem to be shrugging off the change for now. As long as they’re getting the discounts, it’s easier for them to not have to carry and swipe their cards or give their phone numbers at checkout.

Mountain View, Calif. – Millennial consumers age 18-34 are most likely to use online and mobile technology in their holiday shopping this year. According to a new survey from the Google 2013 Holiday Intentions Shopping Study, 95% of Millennials but only 87% of consumers age 35 and older plan to use the Internet as a tool for holiday shopping.

New York -- Moms with young kids, defined as children under the age of five, are often more active on social media, more likely to shop using mobile devices and more open to engage with brands across digital touchpoints than other segments of moms and consumers at large. A new analysis from Experian Marketing Services shows that moms with young kids are 62% more likely than the general population to use their mobile phones to look for local coupons while shopping.

Redlands, Calif. — Start-up Fresh Thyme Farmers Market plans to open 50 new stores across 12 Midwestern states over the next six years. To find the right locations, Fresh Thyme is using Esri technology and data to prioritize markets and rate, rank and compare potential sites based on geographic and demographi9c analyses.

San Francisco – Almost nine-in-10 (88%) consumers will shop in stores this holiday season, compared to 75% who will shop online and 16% who will shop via mobile device. A new Harris Interactive survey co-sponsored by Aerohive Networks and Euclid also shows that physical retailers still need to address consumer concerns regarding in-store holiday shopping.

Specifically, consumers are most concerned about crowds (42%), lines (29%), and out-of-stock items (15%) affecting their in-store holiday shopping this year.

New Canaan, Conn. -- Continuing a two-year slide in retail spending momentum, American shoppers will generate only a lackluster 2.9% rise in holiday sales, according to Customer Growth Partners’ 13th Annual Holiday Forecast. The CPG report paints a scenario that is decidedly less cheery than some of the other holiday forecasts that have been released to date.