While beleaguered shoppers will be looking for ways to make the season bright, retailers can do their part by bringing some much needed holiday cheer to the shopping experience.

If, when walking or driving around town, you’ve thought to yourself that it seems like there are a lot of new convenience stores that have sprouted up over the last few years, you’d be right.  Since December 2001, more than 20,000 new locations have opened, bringing the total to almost 145,000 such stores in the U.S.  But facing high gas prices last year as well as competition from groceries and mass merchandisers and the effects of the economy, C-Stores have actually been pulling back.  Since the end of 2007, more …

Todd Hale, Senior Vice President, Consumer and Shopper Insights
For those of you who attended our 2009 Consumer 360 client conference, you heard the opening remarks from John Lewis, President & CEO, Nielsen Consumer North America, on the impact of the economy on our industry.  His message was about how our company is “investing considerable resources in the area of thought leadership to mine Nielsen content to understand what will happen tomorrow; where (our economy) will settle; and what will the new paradigm look like?”
When John looks at the economy he …

Between 2001 and 2008, more than 35,500 new stores – from warehouse clubs, supercenters and home improvement to convenience and grocery – opened around the U.S.  And while almost all categories of stores showed significant growth (except for drug stores, toy stores and electronics stores, which actually contracted) during the eight years studied, some formats showed greater promise than others.  According to new findings from Nielsen, the economic turmoil of the last year or so has already had a profound effect on the …

Sales in British supermarkets picked up during the last two weeks of November, as shoppers turned their backs on convenience stores and the high street retailers in favor of larger purchases at larger, value-oriented hypermarkets, Nielsen reported Tuesday. 
Year-over-year growth at hypermarkets reached 6% during the period, while the smallest convenience outlets declined by almost 2% during the 12-week period.
In comparison, year-over-year growth in the British grocery sector stood at 3.2% during the 12 weeks ending 29 November, according to Nielsen.  Grocery multiples showed stronger growth (+5.6%) during the period.
“In order …

This year, U.S. consumers are expected to spend more than $98 billion during the November-December holiday retail season, Nielsen reported Thursday.
Nielsen’s holiday retail forecast predicts a 4.7% gain in dollar sales over 2007.  Unit sales, however, are expected to be virtually flat (-0.8%) versus a year ago.
The forecast includes projected sales at food stores, drug stores, mass merchandisers, and convenience stores, across 125 product categories tracked by Nielsen.
With the economy in turmoil, the 2008 holiday season will be closely watched for indications of declining consumer spending.  Declines in consumer spending were …