Marketing

News that outdoor goods retailer REI would close its doors on Black Friday in an effort to allow workers to “go outside and play instead” has generally been well-received. If it was a mere marketing stroke, people said, it was a masterful one. But REI lost its footing when it tried to spread the message…

You probably heard about the Starbucks cups Christmas brouhaha. Bloomingdale’s surely did, but still ended up falling into its own holiday promotion kerfuffle. The chain of high-end department stores put out an ad that attracted attention, for all the wrong reasons. The general mood on Twitter was “What were they thinking?” or “This is disgusting.”

In recent years, you’ve no doubt noticed a change to the rhythm of the holiday shopping season. Big-box retailers are starting their major holiday sales not on Black Friday, but on Thanksgiving Day — and are often offering other seasonal deals days or even weeks earlier. The fastest growing online shopping day of the season…

Attention Kmart shoppers: the struggling discount chain is bringing back the "Bluelight Special" in the hopes the iconic marketing approach it pioneered decades ago will breathe life into its store and online sales. The retailer started sounding the blue sirens used to flag the surprise, 15-minute long deals to shoppers at its 942 stores on Friday,…

This webinar offers insights and tips on how retailers can leverage digital technologies to better engage and sell to consumers.

In episode eight of Total Retail Talks, Total Retail's Editor-in-Chief Melissa Campanelli interviews Andrew Spencer, director of technology for Stance Socks, about the company's recent partnership with Rihanna, its 2015 holiday marketing strategy and future collaborations.

During the first Democratic presidential debate on Tuesday night, all eyes were on Hillary Clinton, who has a formidable challenge ahead of her in the form of Bernie Sanders. While clearly still the front-runner, Clinton has to convince union members and their liberal activist allies that she’s the candidate for the job, rather than the far-left…

Learn a key indicator of omni-channel alignment, best practices for providing a consistent digital gifting experience across channels.

Apple Music is getting a little bit of luxury. Burberry, the high-end fashion retailer, said on Monday that it was starting a channel on Apple Music, the streaming music service. The channel will feature performances, songs and films that have come out of Burberry’s work with British artists. The deal is the first collaboration between the two…

If you stopped wearing your K-Swiss sometime around 2002, apparently you’re not alone. Late last year, the nearly-forgotten footwear brand started a campaign to reintroduce itself to the 21st century. The comeback was complete with a Kik campaign, a campaign called “The Board” that crowdsourced creative, and a little help from producer/DJ Diplo. Digiday talked…