Membership-only warehouse club Costco rounded out 2016 with a bang. Sales for the 40-year-old, Washington State-headquartered company in the last 18 weeks boosted 2 percent overall, with stores in the U.S. increasing 1 percent, those in Canada up 5 percent and 1 percent up for...
During the holidays, consumer confidence was at a nine-year high, which pumped up spending and led to happier retailers. Then, experts noticed that sales and confidence were tracking better than expected. By the last day of the year, the Consumer Confidence Index was higher than...
Every Monday, this column space is dedicated to the musings of Karen Webster and her take on all things payments, commerce and retail. The goal: to start a conversation by taking a fresh look at how the ecosystem is changing, innovating and disrupting — all...
There’s no doubt about it. This year has been big for retail — big on change, innovation and some surprises along the way. EMV changed the payments game in the U.S. Consumers flocked to online and mobile commerce, robots rose in food and consumer goods, and brick-and-mortar stayed relevant...
December 30, 2016
When it comes down to writing year-in-review roundups about what surged and what didn’t in any given year, the challenge is always in not omitting something important or miscategorizing something entirely. One man’s sizzle can be another man’s fizzle after all. And after spending week-in and week-out keeping our personal tally of what was working […]
November 19, 2016
2016 has been an interesting year by all accounts: intense (think the election), intensely competitive (think digital payments) and intensely innovative (take stock of the innovations we write about every...
January 20, 2017
The U.S. video game and interactive entertainment industry had some big wins in 2016. Specifically, $30.4 billion in revenue. That’s according to new research from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and the NPD Group. The revenue is a matchup of hardware and software, peripherals, and in-game purchases. And it just keeps growing, according to research. […]
December 27, 2016
There is much speculation for how the U.S.’ economic health will temper in 2017. While some say it’s looking up to be a solid year with consumer confidence up and...
December 27, 2016
‘Tis the season to reflect on the year that’s about to end, and that’s exactly what Pew Research Center did with its list of 16 “striking findings from 2016,” which...
December 13, 2016
JPMorgan Chase announced Monday (Dec. 12) it crossed the $1 trillion mark in merchant payments processing volume for 2016 as of 11:06 p.m. Eastern Sunday (Dec. 11). In a press...