Consumer or Shopper: Here’s The Difference!

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All shoppers are consumers, but not all consumers are shoppers. Are retailers and brands making the proper distinction? In exploring what distinguishes these two groups, we also unearth through market research just how much shopping, not consumption, has changed – and how retailers can keep up. Are You Treating Your Shoppers Like Consumers? There is ... Read more

The Infinite Store Inside a Small Format

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For our latest Retail Safari® excursions, our scouts visited several new retail concepts that meet the consumer’s preference for a quick trip but with innovative merchandising and experiential perks. What each of these store formats has in common: a small footprint where consumers can shop fast. Here’s what they get right about consumer expectations. Retail ... Read more

The Biggest Consumer Shopping Trends of 2023

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WSL has been following the path of consumer shopping for decades. And through 2022, shoppers led us on a more focused, lifestyle-specific retail trip. To prepare for 2023, we culled through our How America Shops® and Retail Safari® market research, and zeroed in on seven big trends that predict what’s next for retail. Some will ... Read more

Retail Breaks Rules to Follow Shoppers Into the Holidays

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Retailers are barreling into the height of holiday shopping season, and many are following a new playbook, from Black Fridays that jump the gun to secret sales for reward members. Retailers and brands are following the shoppers wherever they want to go, and getting good at the game. This Holiday Season, Retailers Follow Shoppers, Not ... Read more

Gen Z and Millennials Pave New Retailer Trends in WELLness

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We asked shoppers which health conditions they are managing most today, then broke the responses down by generations. The results: members of Gen Z and Millennials are dealing with a range of unpredicted wellness issues. And they’re not all are turning to traditional physicians. Retailers, get in front of this – now.  Millennials or Gen ... Read more

The Reimagined Store Won’t Make You Stay. Unless You Want To

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New themes are emerging in today’s more innovative stores, including some of the most traditional chains we shop. WSL’s researchers compare trips to our neighborhood Walmart and Target stores with those from our recent Retail Safari® tours to learn how different retailers are meeting what matters most to shoppers now. Do Stores No Longer Want ... Read more

Why Gen X Could Be Beauty’s Biggest Consumer Base

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By Emily Dougherty, October 21, 2022 ||  BeautyInc. -  A Publication of WWD Women over the age of 50 have been routinely ignored by marketers for decades. Now, though, healthier and wealthier than any generation of women before them, Gen X is coming resolutely into focus. As American women age, they start feeling invisible and undervalued. This ... Read more

Shoppers are Lonely, Anxious. Retail Therapy is a Solution

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Despite their pursuit of wellness, more shoppers are experiencing new, and unexpected, health issues like loneliness, WSL research shows. Some retailers have been incorporating social environments in their physical stores as a way to reintroduce facetime, but is it enough for shoppers, and what is the role of brands? Shoppers are Lonely. Retail Can Help. ... Read more

Maesa Launches Itk Skin Care Brand With TikTok Stars Brooklyn, Bailey McKnight

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By James Manso on August 19, 2022  ||  BeautyInc. -  A Publication of WWD TikTok creators Brooklyn and Bailey McKnight's new Gen Z skin care brand Itk is launching Monday in an exclusive partnership with Walmart as the retailer bids on younger, digitally native consumers. With Gen Z street cred on one hand and brand-building prowess ... Read more

Help Millennials With Inflation and Bond Long-Term

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Millennials are the single largest shopping group to find themselves struggling due to high prices – nearly half tell us they find it hard to both pay the essential bills and buy more than the basics. Our research reveals unique characteristics of this age group that present four opportunities for improved loyalty and sales. Millennial ... Read more

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