Consumer habits are shifting as economic uncertainty, technological advancements and evolving demographics all push shoppers in new directions. Consumer spending habits were influenced dramatically by the economic crisis in 2008 and have permanently changed in the U.S. since that time.
Certain segments of our economy are very vibrant and other segments are clearly flat. Online retailers continued to experience double-digit growth, even though they didn’t experience the immediate shift that some predicted. Deal-of-the-day sites, such as Groupon, can deliver huge short-term bumps in purchases, but they create challenges of inventory management and uncertainty about longer-term purchasing. Retailers are also seeing broader shifts in shopping behavior driven by e-commerce.