Content about Retailing

CHICAGO — A report released Wednesday by ShopperTrak said that sales increased just 0.2% year-over-year for the week ended Dec. 3, representing a 22.5% decline from the prior week, which held the largest Black Friday in history — both in terms of sales and traffic.

According to ShopperTrak, this sharp decline in retail sales is typical of the week following Thanksgiving. Although shoppers have an initial burst of activity spurred on by Black Friday sales promotions, they often stay home during the following week.

LOS ANGELES — Among those that have shopping-related applications on their smartphone, most of them will use this method to help save money when purchasing gifts this holiday season, according to a PriceGrabber survey.

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Shoppers who were out in full force on Black Friday may not walk retail aisles again until just before Christmas — when retailers are expected to heavily discount merchandise — according to the latest America's Research Group/UBS "Christmas Forecast."

NEW YORK — While advances in smartphones and social media use have lead many consumers to shop online, those same technologies are being utilized by retailers to get customers back into the stores. New shopping apps, mobile technologies and social media rewards are moving buying decisions back into the stores, according to WSL/Strategic Retail's second annual "Buzz to Buy 2.0" trend report.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — During Black Friday weekend, people were spending more money during an economy where that nasty word "recession" still is on the back of everyone's tongue. But was foot traffic down during the weekend because of the number of tryptophan-dazed consumers walking the aisles a day early to get the best deals? Or did consumers forsake the Black Friday shopping madness in exchange for the no lines/free shipping offered on Cyber Monday?

SAN BRUNO, Calif. — Walmart is looking to help holiday shoppers find the perfect gift this season with the launch of a new social shopping application.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Shoppers are just as promotion-driven as they have been since economists first coined the term the "new normal" economy — and that's not likely to change, according to a new "The Why? Behind the Buy" report released Wednesday by Acosta Sales.

WASHINGTON — The combination of earlier-than-ever opening hours, favorable weather and deal-conscious consumers receptive to heightened promotional activity produced record sales over Thanksgiving weekend.

The National Retail Federation said an estimated 226 million shoppers visited stores and websites over Thanksgiving weekend, compared with 212 million last year, and spent an average of $398 per person, compared with $365 last year. Those findings are based on an NRF survey of 3,826 shoppers conducted over the weekend by BIGresearch.

Getting a product noticed by a retail buyer or a paying customer in today’s environment is difficult to say the least. Unless you are a Fortune 100 company or you are lucky enough to have a mega-media budget, just getting an appointment with a retail buyer can be difficult. Today’s buyers are so time-starved they have to be very selective in who and when they see new suppliers and products.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — This holiday season, CVS/pharmacy is striving to make it easier than ever for customers to save on Christmas gifts and holiday necessities by enabling CVS/pharmacy's ExtraCare Rewards members to take advantage of special incentives, such as free gift cards for purchasing select items and earning back "free CVS money" called ExtraBucks Rewards on a variety of essentials.

BOSTON — Almost 2-in-5 people plan to shop Cyber Monday — the Monday after Thanksgiving when online retailers historically offer steep discounts and special promotions — according to a Consumer Pulse study of more than 1,400 U.S. consumers conducted by Boston-based custom research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies that was released Friday.

WASHINGTON — Up to 152 million people plan to shop Black Friday weekend, compared with the 138 million who planned to do so last year, according to a preliminary Black Friday shopping survey, conducted for the National Retail Federation by BIGresearch. According to the survey, 74 million people said they will definitely hit the stores and another 77 million are waiting to see if the bargains are worth the hassle of Black Friday.