Uptick in Consumers Trying New Retailers, Study Shows

Despite cautionary spending last year, retailers may have good reason to be optimistic in 2013: Consumers are trying more fashion retailers for the first time, and most are making purchases during those visits. According to a study by Market Force Information, a provider of customer intelligence solutions, four in 10 (39 percent) consumers surveyed reported trying a new fashion retailer over the past 90 days, a 22 percent gain from 2011 and a 179 percent increase from 2010, when just 14 percent of consumers said they'd tried a new retailer.