Marketing

Why Other Brands Might Follow Adidas Off eBay and Amazon
July 9, 2012

When Adidas confirmed that it was pulling its merchandise from online marketplaces, many in the e-commerce community were taken aback. After all, here was an internationally recognized brand cutting off distribution across some of the most prominent — and fastest growing — channels. Adidas wasn't alone, however. The company was likely responding to similar pressures associated with selling on marketplaces that other brands, of all sizes, have been facing, according to Wes Sheperd, CEO of Channel IQ, an online services provider catering to manufacturers, distributors and retailers. 

Retailers Post Disappointing Sales in June
July 5, 2012

Retailers reported largely disappointing sales in June, as consumers pulled back on spending amid concerns about jobs and the economy. Thomson Reuters was expecting its same-store sales index to inch up 0.5 percent in June, far weaker than a year-ago when the index rose 6.7 percent in June. June tends to be a weaker month on the retail calendar with fewer reasons to drive shoppers to the store.

Graduation Gift-Giving Slim Overall With a Few Bright Spots, Report Finds
July 3, 2012

Graduation season brings with it backyard parties and nostalgia, but it also comes with lots of interesting retail data. After comparing the shopping habits of more than 8 million people nationwide for the time periods before and during graduation season, RetailNext found that the nation as a whole declined roughly 5 percent in shopping for traditional gifting items during graduation.

Bon-Ton Equips Stores With Kiosks
July 3, 2012

Bon-Ton Stores has deployed the first round of more than 100 kiosks, which are equipped with endless aisle, loyalty program, wayfinding and product lookup applications. The chain first implemented kiosks throughout a few stores last summer during a piloting phase, and expect to expand the project to remaining retail stores as return on investment permits.

J.C. Penney, Stick to Your Guns on Pricing
July 3, 2012

When J.C. Penney announced its radical no-sale "Fair and Square" pricing strategy at the beginning of the year, comp-store numbers started tumbling soon thereafter. The retailer announced earlier last month that it would backtrack on the plan a bit, having concluded (correctly) that consumers like the word "sale." Then its top marketer abruptly resigned. There's speculation that CEO Ron Johnson will have to cave and return to incessant couponing and sale events. I hope not.

86% of Consumers More Loyal to Retail Stores and Products Than Brands, Report Finds
July 2, 2012

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 Officially Changes Name to Alco Stores
June 29, 2012

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.

Toys"R"Us Enhances Loyalty Program
June 28, 2012

Toys"R"Us has enhanced its loyalty program with the launch of a new integrated, point-based system that delivers streamlined benefits for members, as well as new and existing "R"Us credit card holders. Rewards"R"Us members can now enjoy unlimited access to expanded loyalty benefits when shopping at Toys"R"Us and Babies"R"Us stores nationwide and online at Toysrus.com and Babiesrus.com. Toys"R"Us is also launching its new credit card program, including an "R"Us-branded credit card and a MasterCard co-branded card, issued by GE Capital Retail Bank, connecting cardholders with all the perks of Rewards"R"Us and more. 

Uniqlo Takes Over Pinterest Creating Animated Mosaics
June 27, 2012

Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo recently took over Pinterest to promote its new line of shirts. Teaming up with creative agency FirstBorn, Uniqlo utilized the power of Pinterest’s scrolling to create giant animated blocks that were featured in key Pinterest categories – men’s apparel, women’s apparel, geek, fitness and sports. The agency used hundreds of shell accounts on Pinterest to pin images simultaneously for the Uniqlo Dry Mesh Project campaign. Pinterest users scrolled through to see images of Dry T-shirts on colorful mosaics.