Marketing

Macy's sees plenty of value in data-driven marketing and believes consumers should hear more from marketers about the benefits. But that doesn't mean the retailer will be secretly tracking shoppers by their mobile phone signals and linking the data with their transactions and home addresses. Speaking yesterday at the D2 Digital Dialogue conference in Cincinnati, Julie Bernard, the retailer's senior vice president, customer strategy, said marketers should speak up more often and forcefully to defend data use and counter negative media coverage. But she said they also need to show restraint.

Macy's is looking to enhance its appeal to Millennial customers by expanding its athletic apparel assortment, which will include Nike, North Face, Under Armour, Calvin Klein Performance and Ideology, to more stores this fall and the addition of Helly Hansen in select locations. This expansion is part of the retailer's Millennial strategy designed to attract a new generation of customers looking for trend, style and value. Macy's will begin rolling out new product for men, women and kids to stores and on macys.com this month.

Fashion designer Kenneth Cole has once again drawn the ire of the internet with a tweet making light of the Syrian conflict. With the debate over America's potential intervention in the Syrian civil war raging, on Thursday the shoe guru tweeted from his personal account: "'Boots on the ground' or not, let's not forget about sandals, pumps and loafers. #Footwear." The reaction online was swift, with legions of Twitter users branding Cole insensitive. "Mocking war to sell fashion? Really?" one user tweeted.

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.