News

Many retailers and consumers will be helping grow the trend of mobile payments. Mobile payment options such as Apple Pay, Google Wallet and others are still relatively new services, but their use is expected to increase rapidly in the next few years, according to …

Many brick-and-mortar retailers are offering in-store pickup to customers who make purchases online. The option sounds convenient, but might not actually be a time saver to consumers. A recent study by retail-intelligence firm StellaService found that “in-store pickup saved shoppers just …

Kitchen upgrades drifted to the back burner for many homeowners during the recession years, but a growing number of consumers can now afford the extra home improvement projects. One-third of more than 3,500 respondents to a Houzz survey say they finally have …

Millennials are the young homebuyers purchasing their first homes in the current housing market. About 75 percent of millennials who bought homes in the past two years were first-time buyers, according to the 2013 American Housing Survey. These millennial homebuyers, mostly …

As customers head out to make purchases with gift cards this holiday season, Wal-Mart is encouraging shoppers to trade gift cards from other stores for Wal-Mart cards instead. The retail giant is hosting a promotion to consumers with wallets full of gift card …

Company leaders are responsible for cultivating and preserving high customer service standards, and Ace Hardware offers some examples of how to do it, according to a recent article. “[I]f an employee, a group of employees, or maybe even the entire company is not …

Lowe’s Canada is using a simulator to help customers plan home improvement projects. Consumers can enter the Lowe’s Holoroom and choose paint colors and other products via iPad to experience them at full scale, creating a 3-D model of a room …

Now that holiday shopping is behind you, you’ve probably noticed that the season of gift returns has begun. About 23 percent of returns happen in late December and January after holiday gift exchanges, according to research cited in an article by The Washington …