Can you guess what product people largely abstained from buying last year -- thanks to COVID-19 -- but are purchasing in droves now that vaccines are widely available and the pandemic appears to be receding? I'll give you a minute to "make up" your mind. (Note: That was a subtle hint...) If you guessed lipstick, you hit the nail on the head. Lips for the most part remained out of sight last year because they were being concealed by our face coverings.  But consumers (presumably vaccinated ones) must be feeling more comfortable about stepping out without a mask because lipstick sales hit a whopping 34 million in April. That's an 80% from the same period a year ago.  While that's 40% lower than pre-pandemic levels, it's still a marked improvement and suggests the economy is beginning to turn the corner.  The fact that the CDC announced last week that vaccinated folks no longer have to wear masks or practice social distancing indoors or outdoors (with a few excep...

These unprecedented economic times are turning normal shopping and saving patterns on their heads. Whether you work in hospitality or healthcare, finance or education, you've surely felt the effects either in your industry or in your personal life. Overall, U.S. retail sales dropped by a record 16.4% from March to April as business shutdowns caused by the coronavirus shellacked stores big and small. Unfortunately, many were already in a precarious state pre-pandemic thanks to stiff competition from Amazon. Nearly $1 of every $5 spent at retailers last month went to non-store retailers, signaling a definite shift toward online shopping. With exception to online, not a single retail category was spared in April. Furniture stores and appliance/electronics stores absorbed whopping losses of 60% or more. Car dealers saw a plunge of 13%. Even clothing retailers have been walloped. Clothing-store sales sagged 79% and department stores 29%. In recent weeks, J.Crew, Neiman Ma...

Certain people seem terribly misinformed when it comes to what makes a savvy consumer. They simply can't say no to a sale or discount, even if the product they're buying isn't something they really need or ever plan to use. Whether they're trying to take advantage of buy-one-get-one-free deals on cold cuts at the grocery store or deep discounts on apparel at the mall, they don't realize that, in the quest to save money, they're still spending lots of it. In other words, people don't mind spending money they otherwise would not fork over if it means they're getting it for less. For many consumers, the thrill of snagging a bargain is irresistible. It's no surprise, then, that many people find themselves chronically debt-ridden. Unfortunately, retailers have gotten smart at baiting shoppers with these ploys. By saying that a sale is only available for a limited time, or that items are running out, people are quick to act because they don...

Who would have thought that Macy's would be in such a slump? The department store's shares dropped over 9 percent following the market's close Wednesday after it posted disappointing holiday sales and released the locations of 68 stores it plans to close nationwide as it aims to turn its fortunes around. Macy's comparable sales tumbled over 2 percent in November and December; it expects full-year diluted earnings to be in a range of $2.95 to $3.10 -- considerably lower than the $3.15 to $3.40 it was hoping for. In an effort to cut costs and streamline operations, Macy's said it will eliminate layers of management and will work to reduce other non-payroll costs. As a result of these steps, the company expects its work force will shrink by 6,200. Plus, some 3,900 workers will be displaced by the store closures and some of these employees may be reassigned. The store closures reflect an attempt to reverse slumping sales at its established shops, with the de...

I think it's safe to say we've all shopped or browsed on Amazon.com at some point. It is, after all, the largest Internet-based retailer in the world in terms of total sales and market capitalization, not to mention the fourth most valuable public company as of 2016. Amazon has separate websites for the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom/Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Australia, China, Brazil, Japan, India, and Mexico. To say that it has a global footprint is an understatement. With product lines ranging from apparel and books to jewelry and groceries, there's almost nothing a consumer can't find on the site, which was founded in 1994. According to a recent report, 55% of Americans begin their online shopping experience at Amazon.com. That's a 25% increase over 2015. If you're Amazon, you have to be pleased with those gaudy stats. It means that the retailer has achieved top of mind awareness in more than half of the population. And th...

On Thursday, Los Angeles prosecutors sued four national retailers for deceiving shoppers into believing they got bigger discounts than they actually did. The separate lawsuits alleging deceptive advertising were filed against Sears, Macy's, Kohl's, and J.C. Penney. The retailers falsely advertised higher regular prices for merchandise so customers, leading customers to think they were getting bigger bargains. California law bars retailers from promoting a higher original price unless the product was sold at that very price within three months of the ad. The lawsuits seek civil penalties up to $2,500 for each violation and injunctions to cease false reference pricing to bolster sales. As it turns out, thousands of "sale" items were advertised at false reference prices. One of the lawsuits asserted that J.C. Penney was selling a maternity bathing suit top online for $31.99 earlier in the year, down from the original price of $46. The top was later marked dow...

Yesterday, I stopped by Barnes & Noble on the way home, and I couldn't help but notice it looked unusually crowded. I felt like I was at a jam-packed Toys ''R" Us or Wal-Mart rather than a bookstore. Then I remembered: It's the holidays, dummy! And I went on a good day: Magazines were 30% off, so I snagged a special edition of TIME , which focused on the psychology of relationships, and the latest edition of Lapham's Quarterly , which centers on none other than my favorite historical figure of late -- Alexander Hamilton. I later ventured over to the kids aisle and saw a Star Wars toy that I know my nephew will go gaga over. And I grabbed it just in time, as a kid came up to me and asked where exactly had I seen the toy. To his dismay, it was the very last item of its kind in stock. It was only one day after Black Friday and I had already gotten a taste of the holiday shopping frenzy that's sure to sweep the nation over the next couple of week...

I saw a meme on Facebook the other day that read as such: "Black Friday: Because only in America do we wait in line and trample others for sale items one day after giving thanks for what we already have." This is spot on. Isn't it ironic how many of the same people who give a heartfelt prayer at the dinner table on Thanksgiving are the ones jostling with other shoppers for bargains at the mall that night or the next day? It's nice to see a growing number of retail establishments closing for Thanksgiving so that their employees can spend the holiday with their families. But that list remains far too short as many stores still look to cash in on the frenzy by getting Black Friday underway on Thursday night. Many shoppers are ready to throw money at virtually anything that has "SALE" or "50% OFF" slapped on the sales tag. To be fair, some of the deals to be had really are phenomenal. But cutting Thanksgiving night short to schlep to the stor...

Book smart. Street smart. Business smart. Handy smart. No matter what type of intelligence we're talking about, it's downright sexy. And the sexiness is amplified tenfold when the person exudes self-confidence doing or discussing what he or she is good at, whether it's fixing cars, negotiating sales deals, or talking politics.  Let's be honest. No one -- at least not anyone I know -- would be attracted to someone as dumb as a rock. Most of us desire a partner who is articulate and able to defend his or her viewpoints -- at least on some matter or subject about which the person is passionate.  It's impossible for us to be experts at everything. A math whiz probably won't be the best writer. A masterful cook might not be able to draw or paint to save his life. A skilled athlete might struggle to hammer a nail into the wall. But no one said sexiness meant being a jack of all trades. Actually, it's far sexier to be adept in one specific area th...

Coupons. Discounts. Sales. We all love them. Anything that allows us to keep more money in our pocket can only be a good thing, right? Any signage at stores that says "buy one, get one free" or "50% off" can be so disarming. It's as if it gets our "spend money" sensors tingling. Ironically, coupons and deals compel us to spend money we would otherwise not shell out. Most consumers don't want to feel like they're missing out on a great bargain, so they're willing to purchase something they might not even need or be interested in. It's all psychological: we  care more about saving money than the actual product we're getting. "If I don't jump on this deal now, the price might go back up." Or so our thinking goes. Is it any wonder retailers have been so successful at driving shoppers to the checkout lines by imposing time windows? ("Hurry! This deal ends soon.") I work in and studied marketing and psy...

It's no secret that our five senses -- sight, touch, taste, smell, and sound -- exert a powerful influence on our everyday purchase decisions. Such is the argument made by Martin Lindstrom in "Brand Sense," which stresses that retailers that deliver a multi-sensory experience achieve greater sales and higher levels of brand awareness in the minds of customers. Here are a few findings that illustrate how important it is for companies to appeal to consumers' senses to shape their behavior: In a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research , Ronald E. Millman showed that the pace of music playing in the background of restaurants and stores had a considerable effect on spending, traffic flow, and service. The slower the music, the more people shop. The faster the music, the less money people fork over. Related studies have demonstrated that the slower the music at restaurants, the longer people stay wining and dining. In fact, the average bill for diners was 2...

Shoppers spent $10.4 billion at stores on Friday. While that may seem like a large number in and of itself, it's a rather tepid showing when you compare it to sales generated a year earlier. In 2014, consumers forked over a more impressive $11.6 billion. Moreover, store sales on Thanksgiving this year fell from just over $2 billion to $1.8 billion. So what's to blame for the drops, exactly? As you can probably predict, consumer behaviorists point to online sales, which jumped 14 percent on Black Friday from 2014. All told, consumers who took to the web for their purchases spent $2.72 billion. Not too shabby, right? And we haven't even gotten to Cyber Monday (Nov. 30), which is hands down the busiest e-commerce day of the year. Perhaps this suggests that people are getting tired of braving the crowds (and the elements) to snag a good sale in person. Reports of people camping out in stores and trampling over others to grab everything from TVs to denim jeans has like...

A few months ago, I posted about McDonald's slumping sales and how it was losing major ground to competitors like Chipotle. But thanks to a host of changes made by CEO Steve Easterbrook, who took the reins of the fast food giant in March, the tables are turning. Among the decisions that have most contributed to the turnaround: This month, McDonald's launched all-day breakfast, a welcome change for consumers who have clamored for the opportunity to scarf down Egg McMuffins, sausage, and pancakes no matter the time of day In an effort to improve food quality, McDonald's has pledged to cut back on chicken raised on antibiotics and promised cage-free birds within 10 years Not only are sales on an upswing, but McDonald's shares have jumped 11 percent this year. Recently, the company's stock hit its first record high in two-and-a-half years. Meanwhile, Chipotle reported its worst sales figure in over 2 years. McDonald's still has its work cut out for it, ...