Branding

ShopAtHome.com, a coupon search engine that connects upwards of 12 million consumers each month to the best deals and cash-back savings, today released its first Buy-havior Report. The report, which tracks consumer search habits on the site, found that when consumers search for online coupons and savings, 62 percent searched for store-centric deals, 24 percent for product-specific coupons, while only 14 percent searched specifically for brand name product discounts online.

Duckwall-Alco said Thursday it's officially changing its name to Alco Stores, Inc. An amendment at Wednesday’s annual shareholder meeting was approved. The company’s ticker symbol on NASDAQ is now “ALCS.” The 111-year-old chain has 216 locations in 23 states, mostly in small-town environments. Plans are on tap to open five new stores in fiscal 2013, while eight underperforming stores are slated to be closed.

PVH Corp. will open 600 Izod shops inside J.C. Penney department stores in September, Women’s Wear Daily reported. The new in-store-shops will range from 600 sqare feet to 1,000 square feet in size.

Zappos.com left San Francisco way back in 2004. Since then it's become closely associated with its new home in Nevada. In fact, CEO Tony Hsieh is working to revitalize downtown Las Vegas, in part by turning it into a startup hub. At the same time, the Amazon.com-owned online retailer hasn't entirely severed its connection to the Bay Area. In 2010, it reopened an office in San Francisco, one that's focused on experimenting with cool new ideas.

New York-based Oscar de la Renta is expanding the retail side of its business, according to Women's Wear Daily. This fall, its Madison Avenue flagship will double in size to 4,000 sq. ft., and the company will open its first-ever location in London. Additionally, after the success of the designer’s compact boutique format in the Dominican Republic’s Punta Cana, the company is considering using a similar concept in more locales. Oscar de la Renta also is considering a retail presence in airports, and perhaps a stand-alone bridal store. Currently, the company operates 13 retail locations.

Samsung recently announced that it will open retail stores in Canada. Although Samsung has not announced an aggressive retail strategy yet, this is a sign that they are testing the markets to see if it is a viable option. Samsung expects the location in Burnaby, British Columbia, to offer hands-on training with products and demonstrations of product features.

Jones Group Inc. announced that it is deepening its partnership with world renowned designer Brian Atwood through the acquisition of the Brian Atwood brand. The transaction will bring Brian Atwood's existing and future collections, inclusive of his luxury shoe collections, into the Company's portfolio and furthers Jones' strategy of acquiring and nurturing the world's best creative talents and designer brands to infuse a strong design-driven perspective in the Company's portfolio. 

Everything you do, everything you say, everything you are — and I mean everything — is a direct reflection of your brand. All of these things need to be managed and controlled, but in a way that doesn't seem managed and controlled. Sound difficult? It is. That's why so few brands actually do it well.

Neiman Marcus is rebranding its contemporary departments within each of the 42 Neiman Marcus stores as Cusp shop-in-shops. Neiman Marcus first launched the Cusp brand in 2006 with two freestanding stores that offered consumers a contemporary assortment including apparel, shoes, handbags and accessories in a boutique environment. The brand has grown over time and now includes a total of six Cusp stores and Cusp.com. 

Online spending may be increasing, but the venerable catalog is doing anything but fading away. In fact, it's still an important part of business for retailers. “It’s basically a marketing tool,” said retail analyst Eric Beder, a managing director at Brean Murray, Carret & Co. “The beauty of a catalog is that you don’t have to go online to see it, so you can use it anywhere.” More than 12.5 billion catalogs were mailed out to homes in the U.S. last year, according to the Direct Marketing Association, the largest global association for the marketing community.