Tag Archives: survey

Poll Shows New Hiring Lagging Behind Recovery

Economy, , ,

A new survey conducted by the National Association of Business Economics showed that about two-thirds of those polled do not expect to see any change in employment in their companies over the coming six months. This is the largest number of employers in recent quarters who do not plan on taking on new employees, despite the fact that they do believe that the economy will prove to be a bit stronger this year.

The US economy seems to be reaching a plateau as the jobless rate falls to its lowest in three years, 8.5%, yet fewer businesses seem to be ready to hire new workers, compared to the previous industry poll.

The survey was done between December 15, 2011 and January 5, 2012 and found that 65% of those polled are expecting a rise in the gross domestic product of at least 2% between last year’s fourth quarter and this coming year’s fourth quarter.

This figure was higher than the 1.6% growth rate which economists suggested when a Reuters poll questioned them.

Approximately two-thirds of the polled companies do not believe that the economic crisis in Europe would have much of an impact on their own sales in the first half of 2012. A pessimistic view was taken by 27% of those surveyed, believing that they will see a decline in sales of 10 percent, or less.

Loose-Lipped Consumers Bring Joy to Retailers

Consumerism, Lifestyle, , , ,
Consumers will share personal information for a better shopping experience

The results of a survey conducted by IBM on 28,000 people in 15 countries showed that people are much more willing to share personal information if they believe in return they will get a more personalized shopping experience.

People are willing to divulge more about themselves with their favorite merchants, from their food allergies to their home addresses. This survey’s conclusions were met with pleasure by the business world as companies are constantly looking for ways to target the perfect demographic of shoppers with their latest creations.

“They are willing to share information if there is perceived benefit,” said Jill Puleri, global retail leader of IBM’s  global business services. “It doesn’t have to be monetary benefit.”

There is still a certain hesitation from consumers all over the world about giving their personal financial information, like their incomes; but other private information is almost there for the asking.

One example is that about 75% of the people in the survey were ready to reveal details about how they use media such as television, like which TV shows that watch. A similar number had no problems telling what ethnic group they were members of.

A somewhat smaller group, 61% were comfortable sharing their names and addresses with retailers. For 59% of the people questioned it was not a problem to describe lifestyle-related information such as how many cars they own, if they live in a new home, or if they had just had a child.

“These are things that I think are pretty important to a retailer,” Puleri said, adding that the change in shopper behavior was phenomenal.
“We have always thought the consumer was pretty guarded with their information,” Puleri added.