Consumer Analytics

San Bruno, Calif. -- A report released Thursday by email and cross-channel marketing solution provider Responsys found that promotional email marketing volume during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend hit an all-time high, helping to drive significant increases in online sales.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Wednesday it has debuted a social networking application, calling it Shopycat.

The app uses Facebook data to recommend gifts to consumers, on the company's Facebook page. It is one of the first products to roll out of @Walmartlabs, a unit of the company charged with developing social-networking and mobile technologies for the retailer.

New York City -- The discount and wholesale club sector was hit and miss in November, as Costco shone with a 9% rise in same-store sales for the month, but Target missed Wall Street expectations with a weak gain.

New York City -- Most retailers are reporting strong sales gains in November, with their performance boosted by heavy traffic over a promotion-fueled Black Friday weekend. Among the retailers that reported results beating Wall Street expectations were Macy’s, Costco Wholesale, Limited Brands and The Buckle.

Target was a notable exception in November, reporting a same-store sales gain of 1.8%, missing Wall Street’s expected 2.8% gain.

The strong customer traffic and sales trends retailers’ experienced Thanksgiving weekend extended into Cyber Monday when shoppers maintained their record pace of spending and propelled online sales to new heights.

Lewisville, Texas -- Parago, a leading provider of consumer and corporate incentives, announced the launch of a promotional fulfillment service offering designed to reward and communicate to clients’ Spanish-speaking customers in their language of preference.

New York City -- comScore reported that Cyber Monday sales totaled $1.25 billion, up 22% from last year, making it the heaviest online spending day in history. Overall, 10 million people bought online on Cyber Monday, representing the first time on record that threshold has been reached in a single day. The average online buyer conducted 1.9 online transactions on Cyber Monday for a total of nearly $125 in spending.

NEW YORK — Heading into December, consumers are feeling more confident about the economy and that is good news for retailers who are hoping for a strong holiday shopping season. After declining in October, The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, improved to 56 in November from 40.9 in Ocober. The Present Situation Index increased to 38.3 from 27.1. The Expectations Index rose to 67.8 from 50.

Washington, D.C. -- A report released Tuesday by the Conference Board showed that consumer confidence experienced its biggest gain in more than eight years, jumping to 56 in November from a revised 40.9 reading in the month prior. The leap was the biggest since April 2003 and exceeded the most optimistic forecast by Bloomberg News.

The improvement in consumer attitude may help sustain household purchases, which account for about 70% of the economy, after sales climbed on both Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

It seemed like such a great idea at the time. On Nov. 17, we reported that mall owner Forest City had hatched this innovative plan to monitor shopping patterns at two of its shopping centers by tracking patrons’ cell phones during the holiday 2011 season, beginning Black Friday.