US retail e-commerce spending reached a new peak of $161.5 billion in 2011, representing a 13% increase from $142.5 billion in 2010, according to February 2012 figures from comScore. Online retail spending reached $49.7 billion in Q4, marking a 14% increase from $43.4 billion in Q4 2010, and a 27% rise from $39 billion in Q4 2009. In fact, Q4’s growth rate was the 9th consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth and the 5th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth rates. Read More »

Although men and women report equal awareness of QR codes (77%), men who are aware of them are 75% more likely than women to have used one (28% vs. 16%) to access product information, according to survey results released in February 2012 by BrandSpark International, in association with Better Homes and Gardens. Looking at age groups, 18-34-year-olds (85%) display the highest awareness of QR codes, with 30% of those having used one. 35-49-year-olds are next, with 80% having heard of QR codes, and 23% of those respondents having used one.
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2 in 3 consumers say that their basic mobile or cell service is an untouchable item of their budgets, representing a 4.7% increase from 64% who responded that way in 2008, according to a survey conducted in 2011 for STORES Magazine by BIGinsight, released in February 2012. By comparison, 60% of respondents in 2011 said that their basic cable/satellite TV was untouchable, down slightly from 61% in 2008.
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Facebook ad budgets grew 109% month-over-month in Q4 2011, according to February 2012 data from Kenshoo, which analyzed 100 billion ads delivered on Facebook worldwide by its customers through Kenshoo Social. And while the company notes that some of the growth can be attributed to seasonality, the increase in global Facebook ad budgets compared well to search channels like Google, Bing, and Yahoo which, in aggregate, saw paid search ad budget growth of 27% globally on a quarter-over-quarter basis.
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2011 saw a 300% growth in barcode scanning compared to 2010, and a 1000% increase over 2009, according to [download page] a report released in February 2012 by Scanbuy. In fact, Q4 2011 alone saw more scans than 2009 and 2010 combined. Mid-November through December proved a significant period of new user activation, serving as the driving force behind the more than 3 million new ScanLife users activated during the quarter, a 360% growth from Q4 2010.
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The online merchants who comprise the MarketLive Performance Index made significant year-over-year gains in areas such as visitors and revenues during Q4 2011, according to [download page] a February 2012 report from MarketLive. Results from “The MarketLive Performance Index Vol. 17″ indicate revenue among year-over-year sites rose 20.3% compared to Q4 2010, while visits increased more than 12%. According to January analysis from comScore, retail site categories boasted 5 of the 10 top-gaining web categories by percentage change of unique visitors in December 2011.
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The average US consumer celebrating Valentine’s Day this year will shell out $126.03 on traditional merchandise, up 8.5% from last year’s $116.21, and marking the highest average in the NRF Valentine’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey’s 10-year history, according to the February 2012 survey, conducted by BIGinsight.

Total spending for the day is expected to reach $17.6 billion, up 12% from $15.7 billion last year.
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Although both iPad and Amazon Kindle traffic on the Jumptap network grew over the 2011 holidays, the Kindle Fire jumped from 10% share of traffic at the beginning of December to 30% share heading into the New Year, according to a Jumptap report released in February 2012, which also found that iPad’s share of traffic fell 25% from 59% to 44% during that period. Overall tablet traffic soared 229% over an average projected for the day after Christmas, based on historical network traffic, while the day after New Year also saw a 263% boost in traffic.
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31% of North American retailers remain unable to identify their customers at the point of sale (POS), according to [download page] a survey released in January 2012 by Boston Retail Partners (BRP), which also found that no retailers identify customers by mobile device. The most common customer contact information available at the POS includes telephone numbers (38%), customer/identification number (34%), email address (34%), name and address (31%), and member/club number (28%).
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25% of adult cell phone owners used their devices to look up the price of a product online while they were in a store during this past holiday season, according to [pdf] a report released in January 2012 by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. 38% of cell phone owners used their phone to call a friend while they were in a store for advice about a purchase they were considering making, and 24% used their phone to look up reviews of a product online while they were in a store. Read More »