More than 40% of U.S. households expected to shop Amazon Prime event

by Kim Souza (ksouza@talkbusiness.net)

Consumer spending has remained resilient despite sticky inflation, and early indications by data, tech provider Numerator predicts that more than 40% of U.S. households will shop Amazon Prime Day event set for July 16-17. That’s two out of five U.S. households.

Numerator said 75% of surveyed shoppers cited “price” as the reason for their purchase while 57% like the wide variety of items on sale and 44% want fast shipping. Numerator said based on last year’s survey, 100% said they were aware of the upcoming event. On Prime Day 2023, 54% of surveyed shoppers said they compared prices at other retailers before purchasing. However, despite price comparisons, most shoppers bought at Amazon.

A majority of 78% said they only purchased on Amazon, despite Walmart and Target’s summer sales events. Numerator said 6.7% made purchases on Amazon and Walmart.com and 5.5% made purchases on Amazon and Target.com. Just 5.7% purchased only on Walmart.com and only 3.5% purchased at Target.com.

More than 40% of U.S. households expected to shop Amazon Prime event

State of the State 2024: Mixed bag predicted for retail sector in 2024

by Kim Souza (ksouza@talkbusiness.net)

Editor’s note: The State of the State series provides reports twice a year on Arkansas’ key economic sectors. The series publishes stories to begin a year and stories in July/August to provide a broad mid-year update on the state’s economy. Link here for the State of the State page and previous stories.

A U.S. recession never happened in 2023 and retailers managed to post holiday sales growth of 3.8% to $964.4 billion according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). For the full year, NRF reports retail sales increased 3.6% to a record $5.13 trillion.

“Consumer spending was remarkably resilient throughout 2023 and finished the year with a solid pace for the holiday season,” NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said. “Although inflation has been the biggest concern for households, the price of goods eased notably and was helped by a healthy labor market, underscoring a successful holiday season for retailers.”

State of the State 2024: Mixed bag predicted for retail sector in 2024

State of the State 2024: U.S., Arkansas economies could see dip in 2024, recovery in 2025

by Michael Tilley (mtilley@talkbusiness.net)

Editor’s note: The State of the State series provides reports twice a year on Arkansas’ key economic sectors. The series publishes stories to begin a year and stories in July/August to provide a broad mid-year update on the state’s economy. Link here for the State of the State page and previous stories.

The nationwide recession expected in 2023 never materialized, thanks primarily to a stronger-than-expected labor market and consumer spending. The new consensus is that economic growth will continue in 2024 but weaken compared to 2023.

“It looks like we dodged the bullet on the recession that was forecasted by many economists for 2023. In fact, the Arkansas economy had a strong first half — particularly in employment. There have been signs of slower growth in the latter part of the year, and I expect that to continue,” noted Michael Pakko, chief economist and state economic forecaster at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Institute for Economic Advancement. “GDP growth is likely to be slow but positive. For the U.S., a consensus estimate is GDP growth of about 1.5%. It is likely to be less than 1% in Arkansas, given the relative size of our state’s manufacturing sector.”

State of the State 2024: U.S., Arkansas economies could see dip in 2024, recovery in 2025