Industry Information

The Association for Retail Technology Standards, the National Retail Federation’s technology standards division, and EPASOrg, an association leading card payment standards in Europe, announced today a partnership to create an ARTS-EPAS Retailer Payment Protocol Standard.

The National Retail Federation’s Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS) today announced significant enhancements to its Fresh Item Management (FIM) Standard, which allows traceability for food items from farm to store.

he National Retail Federation announced today that Whole Foods Market is the recipient of its prestigious annual Innovator of the Year award. Walter Robb, Co-CEO, will accept the award on behalf of Co-CEO and Founder John Mackey during the Annual Retail Industry Luncheon at NRF’s 101st Annual Convention and EXPO on January 17.

After a season full of peaks and valleys, retailers’ 2011 holiday sales beat expectations, rising 4.1 percent to $471.5 billion – slightly surpassing NRF’s holiday sales forecast of 3.8 percent growth.*

Bringing together innovative retailers from around the globe, the National Retail Federation’s 101st Annual Convention and EXPO is set to commence next week offering the best educational programs available to the retail industry.

The Retail Advertising & Marketing Association, a division of the National Retail Federation which represents top marketing executives from retail companies, announced today the addition of six new executives to its Board of Directors.

According to the National Retail Federation’s 2011 Consumer Intentions and Actions survey conducted by BIGresearch, as of the second week in December, the average person has completed 46.5 percent of their shopping, less than the 49.5 percent the average person had completed by the same time last year.

With just ten days until Christmas, the National Retail Federation has revised its holiday forecast upward, expecting holiday sales to rise 3.8 percent this year to a record $469.1 billion. NRF’s initial forecast, announced on October 6, called for anticipated sales growth of 2.8 percent.

Strong promotions on holiday gifts helped a variety of retail categories draw in savvy shoppers as the 2011 holiday shopping season started strong.

The National Retail Federation announced today the new chairman and vice-chairman of its Strategic Supply Chain Council.

According to Shop.org’s eHoliday Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, eight in 10 (87.0%) retailers’ standard shipping deadlines for Christmas delivery will expire before or on Tuesday, December 20.

According to NRF’s 2011 Holiday Returns Survey, 61.9 percent of holiday shoppers say they provide a gift receipt most or some of the time, the highest percent in the survey’s history. They survey also found more people are paying attention to and agreeing with retailers’ return policies as nine in 10 Americans (90.1%) say they find stores return policies to be fair, up from 88.4 percent last year.

The Association of Retail Technology Standards, the technology standards division of the National Retail Federation, announced today the addition of several prominent companies to its growing membership, including Costco, Starbucks and Walmart.

According to NRF’s 2011 Top Toys survey, conducted by BIGresearch, popular holiday toys this year will be a mix of classic and contemporary. Continuing her reign, Barbie once again tops little girls’ wish lists (26.9%) and video games (11.9%) top boys’ lists.

According to Shop.org’s eHoliday Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, half (51.0%) of online retailers surveyed will offer promotions specifically on Thanksgiving Day and eight in 10 (78.4%) will have special promotions on Cyber Monday. Additionally, 92.2 percent of online merchants will offer special promotions at some point during the Thanksgiving weekend.

Holiday shoppers are expected to spend an average of $155.43 on gift cards, the highest amount since 2007 and up from $145.61 last year. This holiday season, total spending on gift cards will reach $27.8 billion.

According to a preliminary Black Friday shopping survey, conducted for the National Retail Federation by BIGresearch, up to 152 million people plan to shop Black Friday weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), higher than the 138 million people who planned to do so last year.

According to NRF’s 2011 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions survey, conducted by BIGresearch, early Black Friday sales and special holiday offers have piqued many Americans’ interest as over half of Americans (51.4%) have started their holiday shopping, up from 48.9 percent last year.