Holiday sales expected to increase 3.6%
NRF expects retail sales in November and December (excluding autos, gas and restaurants) to increase a solid 3.6% to $655.8 billion. Online sales are forecast to increase between 7% and 10% over last year to as much as $117 billion. Retailers are expected to hire between 640,000 and 690,000...
7 ways to connect with millennial shoppers
New Hope’s customer segmentation study found that millennials fall squarely into three shopper profiles: Chief Health Officers, Guilty and Defeated and #Young4Ever. Learn more about what motivates these shoppers. Read more …
How EMV is fueling an e-commerce fraud frenzy
The rollout of EMV-enabled credit and debit cards is driving a sharp decline in brick-and-mortar transaction fraud. But now fraudsters have a different target: online retailers. Read more …
Study: Consumers prefer to explore products on mobile
While the majority of time spent in apps is unrelated to shopping, commercial apps tend to produce higher conversion rates than digital alternatives, a global study by Criteo has found. It also found that consumers explore more products on mobile than they do via desktop. Read more …
What shoppers want from retailers on social media
Two-thirds of consumers in a recent survey said they’ve visited a retailer because of a social media post they saw. Make the most of your social marketing with these insights.
Millennials turn gift cards into mobile money management tools
Young consumers are increasingly using retailers’ gift cards for themselves, loading them onto mobile apps, according to a report by Mercator Advisory Group. The cards appear to serve as a kind of money management tool as users taking advantage of retailers’ app-based loyalty and prepaid programs. Read more …
What to watch for in mobile payments
Mobile point-of-sale, ordering and contactless payments are now well established, but the trends continue to develop. Raymond Pucci reviews four to watch: tableside POS, mobile order and pay at restaurants, the addition of new payment features and wider adoption of contactless payments at checkout. Read more …
Self-Service Checkouts Can Turn Customers Into Shoplifters
Self-checkout lanes more than double the average rate of retail loss to about 4%, according to a study of retailers in the US and Europe that concluded the technology likely spurs otherwise law-abiding citizens to steal. Shoplifting accounted for about $17 billion of the $44 billion retailers lost to...
The chip card transition in the US has been a disaster
Over the last year or so in the US, a lot of the plastic credit cards we carry around every day have been replaced by new one with chips embedded in them. The chips are supposed to make your credit and debit cards more secure—a good thing!—but there’s one...
10 quick tips for preventing chargeback fraud
Chargebacks — disputed credit or debit card charges that result in the return of funds to a customer — can be a financial drain for retailers. STORES Magazine talks with Chargeback Gurus, a company that helps retailers fight chargeback fraud, and identifies 10 tips for reducing fraudulent chargebacks. Read...