With a quarter of holiday shoppers planning to spend more this year than last, retailers can start to celebrate. In its second year of research into holiday shopping plans, analytics company SAS polled 3,458 consumers in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand. The U.S. led spending growth with 29 percent of consumers saying they'll spend more. Canadian shoppers, on the other hand, are tightening their budgets this year. Millennial shoppers (ages 18 to 29) are most likely to up their spending this year, while older consumers are tending to stick with last year's budget.
Holiday shoppers are expected to spend more this season, but it's where or how they plan to spend that should interest retailers, as Thanksgiving Day shopping and social media gain in popularity, according to a new study from Accenture.
Retailers are in the midst of a data land grab. They are trying to collect all of the consumer data they can possibly get their hands on. Why? Because they're hoping that some of it will prove to be valuable.
Walmart has been privately testing drones inside facilities and is now seeking permission from federal regulators to test them outdoors for various uses, including home delivery.
The majority of U.S. shoppers plan to do the bulk of their holiday shopping this year online. But retailers know that not all shoppers are created equal, and new research highlights some of the differences.
Easier access to information is pushing the retail sector closer to what 18th century economist Adam Smith described as "perfect information" -- the idea of having equal information from all providers in order to make a choice.
Mobile point-of-sale systems are intended to roam free, meeting and checking out customers wherever they may be, but many merchants are anchoring the devices to the counter as a replacement for traditional POS terminals.
Cross-border e-commerce is expected to exceed 3 billion consumers and $300bn by 2018, but to seize this opportunity, retailers must formulate strategies that meet the needs of global shoppers.