Consumers are planning to spend a little bit more on mom this year. Mother’s Day is the second largest consumer spending holiday – behind Christmas and Hanukah – and this year will be no exception. The average person will spend $126 to make mom feel special, up slightly from $123 last year. Total spending is [...] [...]
For the last two years, many Americans skipped family vacations, saved their tax refunds or used them to pay down debt. But this year, many Americans plan to cautiously start spending their tax refunds once again. The National Retail Federation’s 2010 Tax Returns Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey showed 43.9 percent of Americans who receive [...] [...]
Couples plan to spend less on each other this Valentine’s Day, but more on family, friends, co-workers and even their pets. The National Retail Federation’s annual Valentine Day’s report, said that couples will spend $63.34 on gifts for each other, compared to $67.22 last year; but will shell out a total of $103 on traditional [...] [...]
Retailers could experience a reversal of fortune this year as The National Retail Federation expects U.S. retail sales to jump 2.5 percent during 2010. Economic improvement, including an improving housing market and declining unemployment, will bolster consumer confidence throughout the year according to the NRF’s bi-monthly Retail Sales Outlook. The news comes as a welcome [...] [...]
More than half a million retailers will get an early holiday gift this year. Checks totaling more than $1 billion will be mailed to more than 635,000 retailers as part of a federal judge’s approval of an early payout of money remaining from a 2003 settlement of a class action suit against Visa and MasterCard’s [...] [...]
Congress is considering legislation that would require the two major credit companies to negotiate hidden credit card processing fees. The fees cost the average household more than $400 annually. “In the middle of one of the worst recessions seen in decades, consumers can’t continue to pay artificially inflated prices just so the credit card industry can [...] [...]
U.S. retail sales beat analysts expectations for the second straight month, according to the National Retail Federation. The NRF report noted that retail sales rose .6 percent seasonally adjusted from January. Meanwhile, January’s sales figures were revised up from .5 percent growth to 1.4 percent seasonally adjusted month-to-month. Though NRF Chief Economist Rosalind Wells remained [...] [...]