Holiday retail sales were up in 2022 during the most critical sales season of the year. Sales rose 7.6 percent during the the key period running from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24, according to Mastercard’s SpendingPulse, which measures in-store and online retail sales across all payment types. The survey excludes the automotive industry and is not…

American consumer confidence tumbled this month to a four-month low, amid a gloomy economic outlook, according to The Conference Board. The U.S. economy has been facing persistently high inflation, energy shortages, and rising interest rates since last year, raising the risk of a severe recession in 2023. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index fell to 100.2…

STOCKHOLM—H&M reported on Thursday lower-than-expected quarterly sales as shoppers tighten their belts with energy and food bills soaring and the world’s second-biggest fashion retailer struggles to compete with rival Zara. Third-quarter net sales at the Swedish group were up 3 percent from a year earlier at 57.5 billion crowns ($5.4 billion), short of the 5…

More American consumers across the country are purchasing cheaper store brands at supermarkets due to rising grocery prices, adding pressure to the big food brands. The major change in spending habits began in March with the sudden spike in gas prices and the highest level of inflation in 40 years. Credit card companies report that…

LONDON—British consumers enjoyed a blowout Christmas, results from the country’s biggest retailers show, treating themselves to upmarket food, drink, and clothes before the sober reality of surging prices hits home in 2022. Retailers Tesco, Marks & Spencer, and Next performed better than expected in the final weeks of 2021, as a rise in COVID-19 cases…

Hundreds of flights across the U.S. are canceled on Christmas Eve, shoppers are on the hunt to find last-minute gifts, and the victim of a fatal shooting in Los Angeles has been identified.

Shootings erupted at retail outlets crowded with post-Thanksgiving holiday shoppers in North Carolina and Washington state on Friday, sending bystanders at both locations scurrying for cover and injuring a total of seven people, police said. At a shopping mall in Durham, North Carolina, a late-afternoon shootout between “two groups who knew each other” left three…

The annual Farm Bureau Thanksgiving survey has revealed that the cost of food for the traditional holiday meal has increased by an average of 14 percent, largely due to the heightened cost of turkey. The traditional shopper survey evaluated prices between Oct. 26 and Nov. 8, approximately two weeks in advance of the holiday. The…

By Jacob Loveless The year 2021 inspired incredible change in the e-commerce industry as a result of the effects of Covid in 2020. From improved automation to artificial intelligence to virtual and augmented reality, the pandemic caused a paradigm shift from “the normal way” of things to “the new way.” These new changes forced many e-commerce…

Tesco and Asda have joined other major UK supermarkets in hardening their approach to shoppers who refuse to wear a face covering, saying they will be denied entry. Laws enacted in the spring mandate face-coverings in indoor public areas, with exceptions, but stores have generally taken a light-touch approach, preferring to offer masks for free,…