Retail and Services News

September 30, 2016

Nearly Half of US Seafood Supply Is Wasted

High Cost of Fruits, Veggies: Higher Body Fat

US Meat and Poultry Widely Contaminated

Latest Headlines

updated 1:33am EDT

Double Cheeseburger and a Diet Soda, Please

Mar. 11, 2016 — While more consumers than ever are making healthier choices at the grocery store, they tend to purchase a balance of healthy and less-healthy foods, according to new ... read more

Gamers Don't Notice the Ads When They're Busy Killing

Mar. 9, 2016 — When people playing violent video games focus on killing and maiming, they don’t often remember the corporate brands they see along the way. Results showed that those participants who played ... read more

Whooping Cough Booster Vouchers Don't Boost Immunization Rates of Caregivers

Feb. 3, 2016 — A team of researchers evaluated the feasibility and impact of different interventions aimed at increasing the number of Tdap vaccinated caregivers. ... read more

Link Between Food Advertising, Child Food Consumption

Jan. 25, 2016 — Unhealthy food advertising does increase food intake in children, new research confirms. The analysis showed that unhealthy food advertising exposure significantly increased food consumption in ... read more

Researchers Examine Effect of Return Policies on Consumer Behavior

Jan. 19, 2016 — In 2014, product returns totaled about $280 million across all U.S. retailers. New research has examined existing studies on return policies to quantify the policies' effect on consumers' purchase ... read more

'Sport Shoppers' Bargain Hunt Simply for the Thrill of It, New Research Finds

Nov. 24, 2015 — A new type of shopper -- the 'sport shopper' -- has been identified by researchers, for whom shopping is akin to athletic competition. They describe ... read more

How to Make Web Advertising More Effective

Oct. 29, 2015 — Every day, users are bombarded with animated ads across the Web, and companies fight to cut through the clutter. New research has pinpointed one attribute online ads should have to influence ... read more

Greater Neighborhood Access to Fast-Food Outlets Linked to Lower Bone Mass in Infants

Oct. 13, 2015 — Neighborhood exposure to fast-food outlets is potentially linked to poorer bone development in early childhood, a new report suggests. Investigators ... read more

Soda Tax Boosts Retail Prices of Sugary Drinks, Study Confirms

Oct. 7, 2015 — A new study addresses questions about the efficacy of a voter-approved soda tax passed in 2014. Voters in Berkeley approved the first excise tax in the country on ... read more

Berkeley Soda Tax Fizzles out

Aug. 18, 2015 — The soda tax passed last fall by voters in Berkeley, California – the first such city ordinance in the country – has fizzled at raising retail prices for high-calorie sugary drinks by less than ... read more

Starving to Death: Boko Haram's Food Crisis in Nigeria

Science Says The 5-Second Rule Is As Disgusting As We All Thought

India's Poor Fear 'rent-a-Womb' Industry Shut Down

Vietnam Struggles With the Illegal Trade of Pangolins

The Sharing Economy's Effect on Business

Sep. 13, 2016 — The rising tide of product sharing can indeed lift all economic ships, including those of the product manufacturers, or firms, new research ... read more

Consumers May Search Online for 30 Days, but Buy Close to What They Found on the First Day

Sep. 6, 2016 — Retailers and advertisers are keen to influence the search and final purchase through better product recommendations and targeted advertising. A new article studies online search and purchase ... read more

Trauma and Shopping: Post Disaster Consumers Value Off Brand, Low Cost Goods

Sep. 6, 2016 — Traumatic events have lasting influence on what products people desire and purchase. When rebuilding and restocking an area that has been affected by conflict or natural disaster, what traumatized ... read more

Buying High Vs. Bargain Hunting

Aug. 17, 2016 — Purchasing and pricing has always been a dance between buyers and sellers. Before deciding to make a purchase, buyers spend varying amounts of time and effort searching for price information. These ... read more

E-Cigarette Nicotine Labels Not Always Accurate

July 22, 2016 — A study found that 51 percent of labels on e-cigarette liquid nicotine containers from 16 North Dakota stores don’t accurately reflect the levels of nicotine found in the products. In one instance, ... read more

Marketing Study Shows Lenient Return Policy May Increase Sales

June 20, 2016 — A meta-analysis of retail return policies may lead businesses to modify their policies to increase sales and reduce returns. The study found that return policies that offer consumers more monetary ... read more

Amazon Might Not Always Be Pitching You the Best Prices, Researchers Find

June 2, 2016 — A research team shows that Amazon is much more likely to point buyers to sellers who use an automated practice called algorithmic pricing, even though those sellers' prices may be higher than ... read more

Outlining a Strategy for Supermarket Coupons

June 1, 2016 — Among the major tools of supermarket promotions are coupons, but understanding which types of coupons accomplish the retailer's objectives can be tricky. A new study can help retailers map the ... read more

How Our Emotions Affect Store Prices

May 23, 2016 — Stores should take shoppers' emotions into account when setting prices, and a new article outlines why. Indeed, some retailers could have profits 7 to 10 percent higher if they pursued different ... read more

The 'Echoverse': New Way to Think About Brand-Consumer Interactions

May 16, 2016 — Most studies of the interactions between companies and consumers look at one piece of the puzzle: Advertising or social media or news coverage or 'consumer sentiment' as measured in ... read more

How to Boost Online Ratings

May 11, 2016 — Consumers are more likely to give a positive review if they experience time and space distance before writing a review, new research suggests. In other words, the longer they wait to write a review, ... read more

Consumers' Trust in Online User Ratings Misplaced, Says Study

Apr. 28, 2016 — The belief that online user ratings are good indicators of product quality is largely an illusion, according to a new study. The analyses show a very low correspondence between average user ratings ... read more

If Your Favorite Brand Is Sincere, Is Innovation What You Expect?

Apr. 25, 2016 — Open the box of that new smartphone. Oops, it feels differently from expectations based on what you'd seen. Embrace it or be disappointed? Your reaction is likely tied to your perception of the ... read more

Eco-Friendly Store Brands Are a 'Win-Win-Win Situation'

Apr. 20, 2016 — Profits for store brands can increase if companies couple ethical marketing with higher prices, new research indicates. However, the researchers also found that consumers' evaluations of store ... read more

Thrill of the Hunt Motivates Some to Buy Counterfeit Goods

Mar. 31, 2016 — People buying fake 'luxury brand' goods experience a range of psychological motivations -- including the 'thrill of the hunt' -- new research has ... read more

Businesses Who Put Customers and Employees First Flourish

Mar. 23, 2016 — Volumes have been written about successful business, political and historical leaders. A new book offers a practical guide to being the kind of leader that creates a new business, instead of ... read more

Study Examines Where, Why New York City Retailers Sell Organic Foods

Mar. 23, 2016 — A store's decision to sell organic food depends on its neighborhood demographics, and the range of organic foods offered for sale is linked to the size of the store, finds ... read more

Experts Urge UK Parliament to Take Action to Reduce Food Waste

Mar. 23, 2016 — As UK supermarkets pledge to cut food waste by 20 percent within the next decade, experts are calling on the government to take legislative action and debate the Food Waste (Reduction) ... read more

More Choice for Consumers Can Hurt the Bottom Line

Mar. 9, 2016 — Big retailers typically pack their shelves with competing versions of the same products intent on attracting a wider variety of customers and gaining market share. But new research suggests that ... read more

Outlets' Effect on Spending in Retailers' Other Stores

Feb. 23, 2016 — A researcher has investigated how adoption of a retailer’s factory outlet channel affected customers’ spending in the retailer’s traditional retail store ... read more

Tuesday, September 13, 2016