How Quickly Can We Exhaust the Social Security Trust Fund?
Last week the Social Security Trustee Report reported the Social Security trust fund will be exhausted by 2033. Comparing this date with previously released estimated Veronique de Rugy at the Mercatus Center highlights the estimated exhaust date has continued to decline and is now estimated to happen 20 years sooner than estimated in 1990. The chart below […]
Sears expands ‘Scrubology’ shops
Sears Holdings is expanding the availability of its in-store professional apparel shop to 91 Sears and Kmart stores nationwide. Revealing of their core shopper.
Moms Love Tech
A recent NRF study shows about 12.7 percent of consumers plan to buy tech this Mother’s Day. Sixty-six percent plan to buy flowers.
Price – Still the Driving Factor for Purchases
NPD is reporting 85 percent of U.S. consumers say price will be an extremely important/important factor in deciding where to shop in the near future. This is consistent with CEA research that continuously finds price and feature set are the two primary factors influencing purchasing decisions. While other factors – notably environmental-related factors like use of recycled materials […]
On AmEx Sync
Lately, American Express has been very active integrating promotions with social platforms. I first noticed foursquare deals a few months ago and this past week noticed Amex has several Twitter-related promos running. Both leverage Amex’s recently launched (relaunched?) Amex Sync. Essentially, Amex card holders get pre-specified discounts when they perform certain tasks on social platforms (ie […]
Is Square Footage the Issue?
Over the last 2+ years, Wall Street analysts have pounded BestBuy on the size of their big box store fronts. Best Buy recently announced another 42 store closures – bring to 50 the total stores that will shutter in 2012. Best Buy has also worked over the last year to shrink their footprints. In some […]
Food Trucks: A Bubble in Food Service
CEA’s HQ is in Crystal City– an area that is perhaps a square mile at most (here’s a map: http://g.co/maps/tdcfy). There are roughly six thousand residents and about 60,000 daily employees in Crystal City. Like any urban setting there are a plethora of restaurant choices. And yet today there were at least 5 food trucks in Crystal City – District Taco, Doug […]
One of the Key Problems in the US
In 1982 Lenny Skutnik became the first to be invited by a President to sit in the President’s box during the State of the Union address. This year the President invited Debbie Bosanek, Warren Buffett’s secretary, so he could make a political point. We take what was once reserved for recognizing true American spirit, an […]
On Apple’s 1Q12 Numbers, iPads and other Apple-related Musings
Apple surprised to the upside (though it really shouldn’t be a surprise) with their quarter results today. Here is a quick overview of what they reported for fiscal 1Q12: Revenue: $46.3bn (+64% q/q +73% y/y) v. consensus of $38.9bn and company guidance of $37.0bn. Gross margin: 44.7% for the quarter (up 440 bps q/q) v. […]
Tablet and eReader Ownership – How to Read Apple’s Numbers
Later today, Apple will report Q1 figures. We know much has changed in the tablet market over the last three months. Earlier this week, Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project reported tablet and eReader ownership (unsurprisingly) surged during the 2011 holiday season. This is consistent with what I expected (and subsequently reported) following Black Friday […]