Consumer Analytics

Washington, D.C. – The National Retail Federation’s Shop.org expects holiday sales to grow between 13%-15% from last holiday season to as much as $82 billion.

“Online and mobile continue to be a leading area of growth for retailers. In this economy savvy, cost-conscious consumers go to the web to do their research and get the best bang for their buck,” said NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay.

Armonk, N.Y. -- IBM announced the acquisition of Xtify Inc., a leading provider of cloud-based mobile messaging tools that help organizations improve mobile sales, drive in-store traffic and engage customers with personalized offers. Financial terms are not being disclosed.

The acquisition will help extend IBM’s mobile capabilities to digital marketers across all industries ranging from retail to citizen engagement in the public sector through cloud-based services.

Los Angeles – The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has experienced significant lift across key social metrics such as local Facebook fans and impressions using the MomentFeed location-based marketing platform.

New York -- Despite the availability of retail technology, price and product selection are still the largest factors influencing shopper decisions, according to an annual study by global IT services and consulting firm Cognizant. Fifty-five percent of shoppers will leave a store to look online or shop another store if they think a price seems too high, and 21% will ask for a price match.
 

Los Altos, Calif. -- Catalog Spree, the personal digital mall that lets consumers browse and shop their favorite brands, has teamed with Google to distribute interactive retail catalogs and lookbooks on the web through Lightbox Ads. These targeted ads will feature Catalog Spree's full-page catalogs and lookbooks, and will be distributed on the Google Display Network, which reaches more than 100 million American consumers.

Austin, Texas – More than nine-in-10 (91%) holiday shoppers admit to overspending on presents, according to a new survey from RetailMeNot, with 60% of overspenders saying they do so because they thought giving a gift the person would love was worth the extra money.

New York -- Consumers are choosing specialty foods over conventional foods at record levels, according to research from the Specialty Food Association.
 
Nearly 75% of U.S. consumers report making specialty food purchases this year, a major increase since the economic downturn of 2009 when only 46% reported that they bought these high-quality products. Consumers surveyed say they spend about one quarter of their at-home food dollars on specialty options like artisanal chocolates, cheeses and oils.

Pittsburgh -- GNC Holdings has acquired A1 Sports Limited, which operates under the Discount Supplements moniker. The company is the leading multi-brand sports nutrition e-commerce retailer in the United Kingdom. Terms of the deal, which was funded with cash on hand, were not disclosed.
 
Following the acquisition, GNC.com, LuckyVitamin.com and Discount-supplements.co.uk will continue to operate as separate businesses, each with its own product offerings and target customers.