Content about Experian

New York -- The 2012 holiday shopping season didn’t provide the sales and traffic lift anticipated by retailers, according to Experian FootFall. The company said the season got off to a blazing start as consumers responded to some of the earliest Black Friday sales and promotions, effectively extending the Black Friday shopping experience to a four-day event. Following this annual start to the season that accounted for billions of dollars in retail sales, the 2012 calendar shift began to impact consumer behavior.

New York City -- A report issued Thursday by Experian Marketing Services found that online traffic to the top 500 retail sites on Christmas Day 2012 rose 27% compared to 2011.

The top retail sites received more than 115.5 million total U.S. visits, according to Experian. To date the holiday online traffic for the past 7 weeks to retail sites are up 10% for 2012 vs. 2011.

Other report key findings include:
    

New York -- Shopper analytics firm Experian FootFall said Thursday that the final Saturday before Christmas – Super Saturday – could eclipse Black Friday as the top performer this holiday season.

By Elizabeth Cogswell Baskin

Editor’s note: Launched in March 2010, Pinterest now ranks as the third most-visited social-networking site in the United States, according to a recent report by Experian Marketing Services. Pinterest, which lets its users “pin” photos and information onto virtual boards, ranks behind only Facebook and Twitter in terms of total visitors, according to the report. It also skews heavily female — about 60% of users are women.

New York City -- Using Experian Marketing Services’ comprehensive cross-channel capabilities to help improve customer experience and drive engagement, JoS. A. Bank Clothiers and Experian received a Database Excellence Award from the National Center for Data Management (NCDM).

Solihull, England -- Visitor analytics provider Experian FootFall said Thursday that Black Friday’s retail performance isn’t necessarily an indication of how the holiday season will fare.

Los Angeles — A survey released Monday by PriceGrabber, a part of Experian, found that consumers plan to spend the same or less on 2011 holiday shopping.

According to the survey, 45% of consumers intend to spend less money during the 2011 winter holiday shopping season than they did in 2010. Forty-nine percent of consumers will spend the same amount that they spent last year, and only 7% plan to spend more this year.

Conducted from Sept. 7–15, 2011, the survey includes responses from 3,070 U.S. online shopping consumers.

New York - Visits to the top 500 retail sites increased 13% on Black Friday, according to data from Experian Hitwise. For the sixth year in a row, Amazon was the top retail site receiving traffic on Black Friday. Walmart was the second most visited retail site, followed by Target. But Target’s visits increased 13% on versus 2009, representing the biggest increase among the top five sites. The top 20 retail sites accounted for 61% of all visits among the top 500 retail sites.