Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

Retail giants Kmart Corp., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. are engaging in a price war prompted by the return of Kmart's famous BlueLight discount campaign. However, Wal-Mart and Target seem to be gaining market share on Kmart due to their retaliatory price cuts.

Calling it a "massive fraud" perpetrated against consumers, a Florida state senator and the state's Agriculture and Consumer Services commissioner on Tuesday said that all 67 products sampled in a sweep of area diet food shops had inaccurate or illegal labels.

New government figures reveal that, while the priceAmerican farmers receive for their sugar has been running at its lowest level in more than two decades, the big grocers nationwide have jacked up the price they charge consumers for sugar to a 20-year high.

Despite a wide technology downturn, Internet subscriber figures continue to grow inthe United States where a majority of homes have at least dial-up access and nearlyone in four online households use a broadband connection, according to a new study.

PCRM, a national health organization dedicated to promoting preventive medicine and higher standards in medical research, education, and practice, on Wednesday filed a petition calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to protect consumers against feces-contaminated poultry and meat. The petition coincides with PCRM's release of a survey that shows that 84 percent of adults have no idea that the primary source of foodborne pathogens on poultry and meat is animal feces.

A monthly estimate of online spending by U.S.consumers suggests that Internet shoppers forkedout about the same amount in July - nearly $4billion - as they did during the same period a yearago.

Despite recast projections from numerous research organizations, thenew Online Advertising Report forecasts that online advertisingspending is holding its own and will continue to grow steadilyover the next several years.

ACNielsen U.S., an operating unit of ACNielsen, and the MediaPlan division of Spectra Inc., each VNU companies, today announced the launch of a jointly developed information service that brings a new level of actionability to the process of marketing mix modeling.