Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

 At first glance, the weakness in luxury is puzzling because consumer confidence is high and Tiffany's customers still have discretionary income to spend.

But Yarbrough points out that people are increasingly spending on categories other than luxury retail. 

"People are still willing to spend on auto, and they're still willing to spend on their homes which are bigger-ticket items," he said.

"They're more interested in cars or homes or experiences," he said, pointing to movies and traveling as examples — not apparel.

An analysis by Jharonne Martis, director of consumer research for Thomson Reuters, confirmed that people were spending their money on hotels and casinos, too, Business Insider's Hayley Peterson reported earlier this month....

Almost two-thirds of consumers (63%) have bought products online before collecting them in-store at least once in the past 12 months, while 16% use reserve-and-collect at least once a month.

Overall around a fifth (22%) of consumers said they have never used the service, which is actually a very slight increase compared to 2012 when the figure stood at 20%.

Even so, the data highlights the continuing importance of reserve-and-collect services for multichannel retailers as a sales tool. The Multichannel Retail Survey, conducted using the Toluna survey tool, also found that 50% of respondents had abandoned a purchase online due to unsatisfactory delivery options....

Americans are increasingly abandoning traditional television. In 2007, the number of "Zero-TV" households was around 2 million. It has since grown to more than 5 million, according to a recent Nielsen report. We first saw the news on Google Ventures Partner MG Siegler's personal blog.

Nielsen defines "Zero-TV" households as those that don't fit into its definition of a TV household. It doesn't mean that those households don't have traditional TV sets, but it's just that the majority of them get their content from computers, tablets, and smartphones. In short, it means they're not paying for cable.

But here's the real kicker: nearly half of these "Zero-TV" households are under the age of 35, marking a clear trend in our viewing habits. Anyway, look at this chart. It shows traditional TV households versus "Zero-TV" households broken down by age...