NRF ANNOUNCES AMERICANS ARE POISED TO SPEND THIS EASTER

The National Retail Federation released its 2015 Easter Spending Survey, gauging consumer behavior and shopping trends leading to the holiday. The report finds that the average person celebrating Easter will spend $140.62, over 2014’s $137.46 average spend. Total spending is expected to reach $16.4 billion.

“Easter will be the perfect segue into spring for both consumers and retailers who have longed for warmer weather for quite some time,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. “As one of the busiest times of year for several retail sectors and as shelves begin filling with both traditional spring and holiday merchandise, retailers are looking forward to welcoming shoppers with attractive promotions on home goods, garden equipment and traditional Easter items.”

The survey found that 45% of those celebrating will purchase clothing, spending more than $2.9 billion. They will also spend $2.4 billion on gifts, $1.1 billion on flowers, $998 million on decorations and $695 million on greeting cards.

58% plan to spend at discount stores, while 41% will shop at department stores. Additionally, 21.8% will shop at a specialty store and 18.8% will shop online.

Source: Retailing Today

CONSUMER SATISFACTION WITH RETAIL IS ON A DECLINE

The American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) reports that consumer satisfaction with retail is on the decline for the first time in four years.

The ACSI report states brick-and-mortar customer satisfaction fell flat or weakened, while Internet retail is up from last year. By category, overall satisfaction with department and discount stores stayed flat at 77, while the gap between best- and worst-ranked companies grew. Nordstrom was the top rated, gaining 4% to 86. They are followed by Dillard’s (81), Kohl’s (-1% to 80) and Macy’s (79). Walmart dropped 4% to 68 and is at the bottom of the category behind Target (+4% to 80), Meijer (78) and Sears (-5% to 73).

Among home improvement chains, Lowe’s rated best at 81, while Home Depot falls to the category’s bottom dropping 4% to 76.

Amazon remains at the top of the Internet sector, at 86. Netflix improved for the third straight year gaining 3% to 81. Overstock and eBay both dropped to 77 and 79, respectively.

The ACSI is a national economic indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of products and services available to household consumers in the US. The ACSI uses data from 70,000 customers annually for measuring satisfaction with more than 230 companies in 47 industries.

Resource: Retailing Today

FOSSIL LOOKS AHEAD TO 2015 – ADDS KATE SPADE WATCHES TO BRAND

Despite disappointing end of 2014 sales, Fossil is focused on the future, announcing Tuesday that it has reached a ten year licensing agreement with Kate Spade, assuming its existing watch business.

Fossil CEO Kosta Kartsotis called the agreement, “yet another great example of our ability to capitalize on lifestyle brands that are poised for global expansion.” The company already has partnerships with brands like Giorgio Armani, Michael Kors, Tory Burch and Emporio Armani Swiss.

Sales in 2014 were flat at $1.07 billion, missing their estimate of $1.12 billion.  Best known for its watches, this segment pulled in more than three quarters of the company’s total revenue. Jewelry sales increased but only accounted for $93 million of the total revenue.

The company is forecasting a sales decline of 5.5%-7.5% in the first quarter of 2015. “We are not entirely satisfied with our fourth quarter performance and begin 2015 intensely focused on taking advantage of the many opportunities available to us to drive future growth,” said Kartsotis.

Resource: Forbes

SLUGGISH US CONSUMER SPENDING START TO 2015

January US consumer spending barely rose .1 percent, despite cheaper gasoline and a buoyant labor market. Economists are speculating that consumers were using their extra income to pay down debt and boost savings. This was below Wall Street’s expectations for a .4 percent increase.

"Should we be worried about the weakness of underlying sales over the past two months? Possibly," said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics in Toronto.

"But all the conditions are in place for a period of very strong consumption growth. We still expect to see that strength come through in the retail sales data soon."

The economy has added more than a million jobs in the past three months and the number of those seeking jobs hit its lowest level since 2007 in December.

Resource: Reuters

WHICH RETAILERS' MOBILE APPS ARE THE MOST SUCCESSFUL WITH CONSUMERS?

Retailers need to figure out how to keep shoppers engaged with their mobile apps so they come back and shop for more, instead of downloading an app, using it once, and then forgetting it or deleting it.

In a recent panel of 250,000 US and 2 million global app users, an engagement measurement of monthly active users (users who shop an app at least once a month) who shop an app at least once a week indicated which retailers rank the highest.

Apps with the highest engagement levels include Neiman Marcus (64.3%), Kohl’s (63.6%), Victoria’s Secret (61.7%), and Groupon (47.8%).  Kohl’s success is attributed to doing a great job highlighting discounts, coupons and deals of the day.

Belk Inc. also has a high level of app engagement with 32.4%. Mobile apps are becoming much more important as digital commerce evolves,” says Ivy Chin, senior vice president of e-commerce and omnichannel digital at Belk. “Our shopper often uses her mobile device to complement her in-store experience, so we developed the Belk app to support that, with easy bar code scanning, coupon integration with Apple’s Passbook wallet, a Belk store finder, integration of e-mail, and social sharing.”

Resource: Internet Retailer.com

“It’s true that retailers have yet to fully make use of location in mobile commerce, but you have to do location right,” Chin says. “Location awareness has to be meaningful for customers and give them the right information and the right messages. This involves understanding how your customers engage with your brand whether they are in-store, online or on a mobile device—a 360-degree view of your customers.”

RETIRED HOME DEPOT CEO AND CHAIRMAN JOINS P&G BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Francis Blake, 65, joins the Proctor & Gamble Co. board of directors, effective immediately. This announcement comes just a few days after his retirement as chairman of Home Depot. He stepped down from the CEO position in November.

Blake’s extensive retail experience joins Macy’s Inc. CEO Terry Lundgren on the board.

Prior to Home Depot, Blake was general counsel for the US Environmental Protection Agency and deputy counsel to Vice President George H.W. Bush.

"Frank is one of the most respected business leaders in America today. His vision, strategy and focus on execution led Home Depot to strong and sustained business growth," said P&G CEO A.G. Lafley said. "We will deeply benefit from his management expertise and retail experience."

Blake also serves on the board of directors of Delta Airlines and the Georgia Aquarium.

Resource: Retailing Today