Management

Branded merchandise (i.e., promotional products) has always been seen as a sidebar for grand openings or sponsorships; however, it should play an integral role within your overall marketing strategy. Through the use of branded merchandise, retailers can show brand personality, reinforce their message and understanding of target audience, and engage with customers in a way that will create brand resonance. To achieve optimal results with your branded merchandise, it's important to have a strategy in place that's tailored to the needs of your target customers. Here are some tips to make sure you use promotional products effectively:

Hear best practices around how to motivate and empower your staff to make your customers feel every bit as important as they are.

A few weeks ago, I posted a blog about Wal-Mart in which I expressed disappointment with comments President and CEO of U.S. Stores Greg Foran made to analysts. At that time, he shared a top-line review; he seemed pleased with the performance of Express and Walmart Neighborhood stores and also endorsed the Superstores. Few specifics were provided as to his plans to set a new direction for the business other than state his intention to focus on food areas of the store, manage inventories carefully and improve the customer shopping environment. 

A consortium of major retailers backing a mobile payments effort has appointed a new chief executive a day after member Best Buy announced it would support a competing system created by Apple. Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) announced Tuesday that Dekkers Davidson was leaving the group "to pursue other opportunities." Davidson, who had served as MCX's chief since 2013, will be replaced on an interim basis by Brian Mooney, a former CEO of Bank of America Merchant Services. 

As retailers feel the pressure to raise wages for employees, GameStop is focusing on education by giving staffers an incentive to enter the classroom. GameStop is launching a new scholarship for its employees that would allow them or their children to go to college. The program is called "Power to the Scholars," a reference to the "Power to the Players" slogan the company has popularized over the years. The "Power to the Scholars" scholarship will work in partnership with Scholarship America as an extension of GameStop's employee-oriented Gamer Fund.

eBay plans to grow by thinking small as it prepares for life apart from PayPal. The company says it's focusing on getting more people, as well as small to midsize businesses, to buy and sell items on its popular online marketplace. The effort comes as it attempts to address investor concerns about how it will fare later this year after it spins off its PayPal payments division, which has long been eBay's fastest-growing segment. CEO John Donahoe said Wednesday the company is moving toward the spinoff with "clarity and speed."

Wal-Mart is eliminating a layer of in-store management, part of efforts to simplify operations at the world's largest retailer. The company will cut the role of zone manager and transfer the duties to other managers, Wal-Mart spokesman Kory Lundberg said. The change, affecting about 14,000 employees, is meant to reduce bureaucracy and put more power in the hands of people running Wal-Mart's 4,500 U.S. stores. The company began notifying employees of the decision this month, Lundberg said. Until now, employees in zone-manager positions — generally about six workers per store — had responsibility over several departments. 

During a meeting with analysts Wednesday, Walgreens president Alex Gourlay ticked through a list of measures the company had taken since launching a cost-cutting initiative last year that has grown to $1.5 billion. The drug store chain, which is now known as Walgreens Boots Alliance after recently merging with a U.K. company, will be closing some 200 U.S. stores and reorganizing certain parts of its management. One move in particular is getting plenty of attention: Last November, the company froze salaries of its senior leadership, though it continued to hand out merit increases to rank-and-file employees.

Duluth Trading Co., the outdoor apparel retailer whose marketers rarely have met a pun they didn't like, apologized Wednesday to singer Don Henley for making one out of his name and a song. Henley, lead singer of the Eagles, sued Duluth Trading in October just a few days after the company started advertising its henley T-shirts with the slogan "Don a Henley and Take It Easy."

eBay appointed an executive from The Home Depot to lead its North American marketplace. Harry "Hal" Lawton was most recently Senior Vice President of Merchandising for the retailer.