Npd Group

The video game industry got a shot of good news Wednesday before what's expected to be a final dose of bad news on 2009 today. Activision Blizzard Inc. said sales of its blockbuster Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 have exceeded $1 billion worldwide since it launched Nov. 10. Though the Santa Monica publisher didn't specify how many units it had sold, that's probably close to 15 million based on the 8 million units the game sold in its first...

Port Washington, N.Y., based market research firm NPD Group reports that sales of basketball footwear were up 14% dollar-wise in 2012 compared with the previous year, with January and February 2013 showing sales gains on the first two months of 2012, up 11% and 6%, respectively. According to the results of NPD's recent study, which tracked sales of performance, sports lifestyle and classic basketball shoes at athletic specialty/sporting goods stores, department stores, national chain and footwear chain stores, hoops-related kicks clock in as " one of the fastest growing athletic footwear categories.

Video game sales in the U.S. plunged 15% in February as skittish consumers continued to ratchet back their spending. The bleak sales report from the NPD Group marks the 10th monthly decline in the last 12 months. Game sales fell to $624 million. Console sales dropped 20% to $426 million, while sales of peripherals such as game controllers slipped 1% to $204 million. The drop occurred despite three major titles released last month: BioShock 2 from Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., Dante's Inferno from Electronic Arts Inc., and Heavy Rain from Sony Corp.

Past restaurant marketing campaigns have usually featured sexy patrons having a good time with friends or their adorable young families. But according to new research, maybe it's time food-service companies started focusing more on silver foxes. Historically, baby-boomer consumers and older customers have been less likely than younger peers to visit dining establishments. But that's changed since the recession, according to the NPD Group research firm. In the last five years, graying patrons have grabbed an increasing share of restaurant traffic, with more visits to every segment of the restaurant industry than before the downturn.

Adele Cabot and her husband used to dine out three or four times a week, regularly spending $75 to $100 at a sushi bar sampling rainbow rolls and yellowtail nigiri sushi. But that changed after Cabot, an adjunct professor of theater at UCLA, had to take a 6% salary cut. The couple now eat out half as much and frequent less expensive Mexican and Italian places. "I just don't want to spend the money to eat out a lot," Cabot said. With Thanksgiving this week and Christmas next month, restaurants are eager to win back customers such as Cabot who seemed to disappear amid a brutal summer for the nation's eateries.

Port Washington, N.Y., based market research firm NPD Group reports that sales of basketball footwear were up 14% dollar-wise in 2012 compared with the previous year, with January and February 2013 showing sales gains on the first two months of 2012, up 11% and 6%, respectively. According to the results of NPD's recent study, which tracked sales of performance, sports lifestyle and classic basketball shoes at athletic specialty/sporting goods stores, department stores, national chain and footwear chain stores, hoops-related kicks clock in as " one of the fastest growing athletic footwear categories.

Past restaurant marketing campaigns have usually featured sexy patrons having a good time with friends or their adorable young families. But according to new research, maybe it's time food-service companies started focusing more on silver foxes. Historically, baby-boomer consumers and older customers have been less likely than younger peers to visit dining establishments. But that's changed since the recession, according to the NPD Group research firm. In the last five years, graying patrons have grabbed an increasing share of restaurant traffic, with more visits to every segment of the restaurant industry than before the downturn.

The video game industry experienced a stomach-churning 29% drop in U.S. sales in July, its third-worst year-over-year slide since January 1995, when NPD Group Inc. first began tracking sales data. The monthly decline, the industry's fifth consecutive drop, means game console and software sales are now down 14% from January through July this year compared with the first seven months of 2008. To climb out of the red zone, sales from August through December would need to grow 11% from a year earlier, NPD analyst Anita Frazier said.

The allure of ants may escape most people, but Uncle Milton Industries Inc. has based decades of success on the creatures. The Westlake Village toy maker is famed for inventing the ant farm in 1956 as well as other playthings in the science-and-nature niche. Uncle Milton's Ant Farm is so popular and has spawned so many imitators that company President Frank Adler may be only half joking when he says: "We do supply the ants from a secret source; we'd tell you but then we'd have to kill you. ... Competition is always seeking out that information."

We ask a lot of our refrigerators. That once-humble big white box still may be big and it still may be white, but manufacturers are trying hard to make it anything but humble, arming it with an array of capabilities, including spitting out three types of ice on command and alerting you that it's ailing, even if you're out of town. Manufacturers who displayed their wares recently at the Kitchen/Bath Industry Show in Chicago said they were packing the next generation of refrigerators with all manner of techno-wizardry and just plain novelty because they had to. Your good old fridge is probably good (though it probably is, indeed, old)

Sales of video game discs and consoles plummeted 22% last year, as consumers flocked to new digital devices and cut their spending, while publishers released fewer games. The drop was much sharper than 2011's 9% decline from 2010. Total spending in the U.S. on physical game products was $13.26 billion, according to NPD Group. The research firm did not estimate the annual total including other avenues for game spending, but did say that used games, rentals and digital formats accounted for about half of total spending in December.

It's not looking good for the restaurant industry, which struggled through a slow spring season and will probably see flat traffic for the next two years. A mild winter drove more diners to eat out, leading optimistic analysts to predict that the industry was recovering after being slammed in the recession. But those hopes were dashed as the year went on and restaurant visits rose a paltry 1% in the spring from a year earlier, according to research firm NPD Group Inc. NPD analyst Bonnie Riggs cited consumers' "continuing cost-consciousness, still relatively high unemployment and economic uncertainty" as reasons for the industry's disappointing performance.

Apple products accounted for 19% of all U.S. spending on consumer electronics during the holiday shopping season last year, helping the technology giant maintain its title as the country's top-selling electronics brand for 2011, according to a new study. Apple also was the third-largest U.S. electronics retailer in 2011 based on total revenue, research firm NPD Group said. The No. 1 retailer was Walmart, followed by Best Buy. Staples and Amazon tied for fourth place to round out the top five, a repeat of 2010, NPD said.

For the first time, more smartphones were sold than any other type of mobile phone, according to a new study. Sales of smartphones rose 8% during the first three months of 2011 from the same period in 2010, research firm NPD Group said. Smartphones accounted for 54% of all mobile phone sales for the period. However, overall mobile phone sales, which are made up of sales of smartphones and standard cellphones, fell 1% during the quarter from a year earlier, the research firm said.

Fries have been getting downsized. The introduction of dollar menus, effects of the recession and the end of super-sizing have taken a toll on French fry consumption at restaurants. Fries are a part of 13.2% of restaurant meals today, down from 14.5% in 2004, according to NPD Group. But fast-food giants haven't been taking this lying down. Many have been finding ways to offset the decline in fry sales. McDonald's Corp., the longtime king of fries, has cited breakfast business and the introduction of frappes and smoothies for helping the chain score 31 consecutive quarters of same-store-sales gains.

Ask a harried mom about what's for dinner, and you could get an icy reply. Feeling increased pressure to get a full meal on the table in less than 30 minutes, more families are eyeing the frozen-food aisles for items that can carry dinnertime. About 16% of dinners tonight will come from the freezer aisle, an all-time high and up from 11% in 1990, according to NPD Group. Also, frozen food is taking up more of the store, according to grocery consulting firm Willard Bishop.

Nearly two-thirds of software bought online is delivered via digital downloads, rather than on discs that came in the mail, according to an NPD Group report released Tuesday. "People's comfort with downloading software online has grown and will continue to grow," NPD analyst Stephen Baker said. "It's kind of a halo effect from things like Netflix and iTunes, things that got people to trust the idea of buying things online. "More and more people are leaving the product boxes behind.

The allure of ants may escape most people, but Uncle Milton Industries Inc. has based decades of success on the creatures. The Westlake Village toy maker is famed for inventing the ant farm in 1956 as well as other playthings in the science-and-nature niche. Uncle Milton's Ant Farm is so popular and has spawned so many imitators that company President Frank Adler may be only half joking when he says: "We do supply the ants from a secret source; we'd tell you but then we'd have to kill you. ... Competition is always seeking out that information."

Nearly two-thirds of software bought online is delivered via digital downloads, rather than on discs that came in the mail, according to an NPD Group report released Tuesday. "People's comfort with downloading software online has grown and will continue to grow," NPD analyst Stephen Baker said. "It's kind of a halo effect from things like Netflix and iTunes, things that got people to trust the idea of buying things online. "More and more people are leaving the product boxes behind.