Forecasts

The e-commerce impact beyond Amazon buying Whole Foods

Amazon’s plan to buy Whole Foods foreshadows a period where e-commerce will begin to transform shopping for consumables—exposing them to an impact that is now rapidly advancing in discretionary goods categories from apparel to electronics. The e-commerce impact on the grocery,…


Updated Holiday Results: Revised Down a Bit

Brick and mortar retail gains for the November-December holiday were about 2.4%–given topline sales gains that were revised down a bit to 3.9% and online gains that came in at an estimated 14.9%. The results were slightly higher than expected. The…


Initial Holiday Results: Stronger in Places

The 4% gain in holiday sales for November-December was stronger than expected and stronger than a year ago—by about half a percentage point on both counts. The better results occurred partly at brick and mortar stores—not just online. The in-store results,…


What consumers want as holiday gifts—what it means

The winners and losers among categories this holiday will include gift cards, clothing, home-related goods, and media from books to video games. That’s the takeaway from an October survey of holiday shoppers—and comparisons with responses spanning more than 10 years. Given…


Holiday Spending Will Be Slightly Weaker This Year

Spending will be slightly weaker online and in stores this holiday season. Sales will grow 2% in stores and 14.5% online—resulting in 3.5% overall growth, according to projections by MacroSavvy™. The forecast shows that the weakness will be most evident at…