Consumer Analytics

Schaumburg, Ill. -- Three in four (75%) surveyed retail associates and managers feel they provide a better in-store customer experience when equipped with the latest mobile technologies, according to Motorola Solutions’ annual Holiday Shopping Survey.

Shoppers echoed a similar sentiment, with 67% reporting greater satisfaction with stores where associates utilized the latest technologies to assist in the shopping experience. And 43% of shoppers reported that the mobile point of sale improved their shopping experience.

York, Pa. -- The Bon-Ton Stores announced it has signed a new, multi-year private-label credit card program agreement with Alliance Data, a provider of loyalty and marketing solutions.

NEW YORK — Affinity Solutions, a provider of transaction-based marketing programs for financial institutions and retailers in the United States, announced that John Brennan has joined as VP business development.

Bethesda, Md. -- IBM on Monday released its Benchmark projection for online sales for the month of December, showing that online sales are expected to grow by 9.5% to 10% year-over-year.

For the week of Dec. 11, the report showed that online sales rose 10.8% over the same week in 2010. Mobile traffic increased to 12.1% of all online retailing sessions, compared with 5% over the same week last year and reflecting a 143.9% increase.

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. -- A survey released Monday by Spherion Staffing Services said that when consumers have a positive customer service experience, they are more likely than ever before to share their opinions than in previous years, especially via social media, online review sites, and with the company itself.

Reston, Va. -- Following recent e-commerce trends released by comScore, online spending continues to grow at a consistent 15% rate. As reported earlier, holiday e-commerce spending rose 15% year-over-year to $26.8 billion for the first 42 days of the shopping season, through Dec. 12.

And on Sunday, comScore released its latest findings, that online sales surpassed $1 billion on four days during the work week of December 12-16, a 15% increase over the same period last year.

Walmart's social media shopping platform, Shopycat is using the services of ifeelgoods, a company that provides marketing and technology solutions for digital goods incentives, to provide Facebook credits as reward for key customer actions. 

Through its partnership with @WalmartLabs, Walmart's social media arm, ifeelgoods is providing technology to encourage customers to use Walmart's new ShopyCat social gift finder, ifeelgoods reported.

There’s nothing wrong with most of the consumer electronics items that get returned to stores, according to new research by Accenture. A study by the firm found that defects only account for about 5% of the returns and the rest of the time buyers’ remorse (27%) or a perceived flaw (68%) results in the item being returned.

Montreal -- A survey released Friday by e-commerce visitor feedback analytics firm iPerceptions found that, despite online retail sales being up, online retailers are missing out on revenue opportunities.

Third quarter 2011 Retail Ecommerce industry report showed that, while U.S. retail sales estimates show online retail spending rose 13% year-over-year to $36.3 billion for the quarter, task completion fell significantly for visitors at nearly every stage of the retail purchase cycle.

RESTON, Va. -- Data released Wednesday by comScore showed that holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 42 days of the 2011 holiday season is up 15% year-over-year. Through “Green Monday,” Dec. 12, $26.8 billion has been spent online.

The most recent week (week ending Dec. 11) reached a record $6.1 billion in spending, in line with the season-to-date’s 15% growth rate, according to the report.