Consumer Analytics

Chicago -- Year-over-year retail sales rose a solid 4% for the 2010 holiday shopping season (November/December), according to ShopperTrak’s National Retail Sales Estimate.

Conversely, total U.S. foot traffic fell slightly below expectations as consumers continued the pattern retailers saw throughout 2010 of fewer mall and individual store visits with a larger spend. ShopperTrak’s revised holiday forecast called for a 1.8% traffic increase.

New York City -- Affinity Solutions, a provider of partner-funded rewards programs, announced that it has signed an extension with Anna’s Linens as a client in its bank rewards program, which connects national and local retailers to a network of over 400 banks. Anna’s Linens will also continue its use of the Affinity Dashboard, a proprietary analytic tool that offers retailers access to in-depth consumer spend data.

The use of mobile phones in retail is increasing dramatically, according to a survey released at the National Retail Federation’s Annual Convention & Expo in New York City. The study, conducted by ForeSee Results and entitled “Explosion in Mobile Retail Provides Huge Opportunity for Retailers,” found that shoppers are using mobile phones to access websites and apps more than ever before.

NEW YORK — Front-of-pack labels may not sway customers from purchasing certain items in stores.

Conducting a study among more than 1,000 shoppers on their opinion of such labels and changes in purchase intent among 25 major brands with and without FOP labeling, HealthFocus International found that 43% of shoppers said that it’s unlikely that FOP labeling will impact their food choices, but some purchase intent scores changed by more than 25%.

Chicago -- Year-over-year retail sales rose a solid 4% for the 2010 holiday shopping season (November/December), according to ShopperTrak’s National Retail Sales Estimate.

Conversely, total U.S. foot traffic fell slightly below expectations as consumers continued the pattern retailers saw throughout 2010 of fewer mall and individual store visits with a larger spend. ShopperTrak’s revised holiday forecast called for a 1.8% traffic increase.

New York City -- Whole Foods Market is starting to roll out a new range of healthier prepared foods, nutritional scorecards and other changes as part of its return to its healthy eating roots, the Associated Press reported. 

The changes are part of the company’s "Health Starts Here” program. Among the changes Whole Foods is rolling out this year:

Chicago -- Galleria announced that Giant Eagle has signed an agreement to deploy its Behavioral Cluster Planning solution, a behavioral-based clustering solution that provides consumer insight and analysis.

New York City -- SAS on Monday announced a 5-year agreement with Winn-Dixie Stores around the company’s marketing and merchandising analytics offering.

“We chose SAS because of their strong commitment to retail and analytical excellence,” stated Maura Hart, Winn-Dixie’s CIO. “This partnership will enhance our customers’ shopping experience with the implementation of SAS’ technology and resources to provide improvements in pricing, assortment and category management.”