Marketing

Bass Pro Shops, which mailed its first catalog in 1974, has introduced a new interactive digital catalog app for the iPad to view its several catalogs. The interactive catalog app is available for free on the App Store. "With the launch of the 2013 Saltwater Specialist Interactive Catalog, Bass Pro Shops is leading the way in retail with an app that showcases products and provides shoppers with product demonstrations, tips, and more robust product descriptions and presentations," said Stan Lippelman, vice president of marketing.

Never mind that we've barely bid farewell to swimsuit season. Retailers are already looking ahead to the all-important holiday shopping season. And this year, that means they're looking ahead to … "Thanksgivukkah"? That's the made-up name some are giving to a very real and remarkable coincidence of the calendar — namely, the fact that Thanksgiving and the first day of Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish festival of lights that normally starts close to Christmas, fall on the same date in 2013 (Nov. 28, to be exact).

According to Back-to-School Shopping: 2013 Trends from Placed Insights, the back-to-school shopping season is second only to Christmas in retail sales, as retailers across a variety of categories, including apparel, electronics, office supplies and more, stock their shelves with must-have items and flood advertising channels to drive shoppers through their doors.

Online office supply retailer Business Supply saw increases in revenue, conversions, return on investment and customer acquisition thanks to a newly managed Google Product Listing Ad (PLA) program it launched this past spring.

The companies that start the most word-of-mouth conversations are the ones that offer something truly remarkable — the ones that stand out from their competitors. So when American Eagle Outfitters took a look at its prospective market and realized it was facing "a sea of sameness," it turned to its customers to help them launch a brand identity worth talking about. In her presentation at SocialMedia.org's BlogWell conference in Chicago, Jamie Simoni, American Eagle Outfitter's marketing manager for social media, describes the contest it used to inspire more word-of-mouth than any traditional advertisement. 

American Apparel is being heralded for its support of LGBT rights after issuing an open call for "transexy" models. The fashion brand famous for its provocative advertising posted an ad Saturday on Instagram, asking transgender and transsexual models to visit its Chelsea store. American Apparel, which has used transgender models in ads before, is famous for its strong stance on gay rights, carrying gay culture magazines in its stores and piloting the "Legalize Gay" movement in support of same-sex marriage in California.

Would you trade your location data for an in-store discount? That's the idea behind Swirl, a mobile app now being used by retailers like Kenneth Cole and Timberland in Manhattan and other cities. The app can target those with a declared interest in designer duds or tough terrain footwear, and even if they've perused a specific section of those stores. At the Kenneth Cole in Grand Central Station recently, shoppers who downloaded the Swirl app and allowed it to track their location were notified of a 20 percent discount on full-priced merchandise. 

Since February, CVS Caremark has been pushing its pharmacists to enroll customers in a prescription drug rewards program. The benefit to customers is the opportunity to earn up to $50 a year in store credits that can be used to buy shampoo, toothpaste or other products. The benefit to CVS is persuading pharmacy customers, through questionable means, to give up federal privacy safeguards for their medical information and permitting the company to share people's drug purchases with others.

A J.C. Penney back-to-school ad that implies kids will be friendless unless they wear the right clothing is promoting bullying, charged a flurry of critics on social media this week. "Your ad about cool kids wearing J.C. Penney clothes, showing a child sitting alone at lunch is despicable," fired off one Facebook user. Another added, "How clueless are you? What a horrible bully-promoting commercial." Twitter users have called it "tone deaf" and "more self-immolation" for the company. The ad was posted online by the retailer in late July and aired as part of a TV campaign earlier this summer. 

Apparel brand Hanes is asking women a question that might get it smacked in a bar: What color underwear are you wearing? According to the brand, the question is part of a campaign that taps into a millennial desire to share while also ensuring consumers know about a new range of color, pattern and silhouette options. The discussion, Hanes’ Undercover Color campaign, takes place on Twitter. The Undercover Color website also showcases underwear color trends by region and individual color pages for yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, blue and green. It launched July 29.