Prospecting

This fall, customers using Target-branded credit cards will a get 5 percent discount on every purchase at its stores. Gauging by the results of an eight-month test Target recently concluded in Kansas City, the company expects the program to drive a 1 percent to 2 percent nationwide increase in sales at stores open at least a year by luring shoppers to its stores more frequently to take advantage of the savings.

As Best Buy faces heightened competition from rivals Wal-Mart and Amazon.com, the largest U.S. electronics retailer is confronting a longstanding disadvantage: fewer women shoppers. Best Buy's customers and worker are overwhelmingly male, a vestige from its days as a seller of speakers and stereo equipment. While Best Buy estimated earlier this year that it commanded roughly 22 percent of U.S. consumer electronics sales, its share of sales to women was just 16 percent, and only 31 percent of store workers are women. Now, the Richfield, Minn.-based retailer is trying to bridge its gender gap.

Toys"R"Us announced that it has introduced its Christmas Savers Club, a program that allows shoppers to begin setting aside money with the added benefit of earning a bonus, simply for saving early. Those who sign up for the Christmas Savers Club between now and Oct. 16 will receive a 3 percent bonus based on the total funds they save. Customers can save up to $2,500 per card, which means the most aggressive savers can earn up to $75 on top of the money they load on their cards.

To those on the fringes, paid search engine marketing (SEM) can appear to be black magic. There are so many variables to get right — keywords, ads, bids, landing pages, offers, etc. — and the competition can be brutal. Before you know it, you're spending more than you can afford just to stay in the game.

While golf is primarily an individual sport, that doesn't mean retailers that sell golf products can't partner up to drive more sales — and acquire new buyers at the same time.

Whether you want to grow your business or maintain your database size as customers age out, prospecting is a challenge every successful cross-channel retailer needs to master. For some, buying lists and using paid search are the beginning and end of their prospecting efforts. But many eventually realize that to grow their businesses — and combat limited list universes
and increasingly competitive paid search pricing — they need to look at expanding further into multichannel prospecting.

Kohl’s is scouting out locations in Canada in a preliminary look at bringing its mid-priced department stores to the country, industry sources say. U.S. retailers, grappling with economically fragile consumers at home, are increasingly turning to Canada for more fertile ground. Some of them, including Kohl’s, had counted on adding new stores in states such as California, Florida and Arizona but those markets were ravaged in the recession. Now clothier J. Crew, discounter Target Corp. and lingerie retailer Victoria’s Secret are among U.S. merchants preparing to take the leap across the border.

Luxury group Burberry plans to step up expansion, with a focus on emerging markets, e-commerce and menswear, after strong sales of coats and leather goods helped it beat profit forecasts. The 154-year-old British group, known for its camel, red and black check pattern, said on Wednesday it would almost double capital spending to $186 million in its 2010-11 financial year, despite an uncertain economic outlook.

Casual Male Retail Group's chief executive said he hopes the company's new Destination XL stores will increase its market share by attracting the "smaller big-guy." "We do not have a big market share in the smaller sizes and that's a huge win for us if we can get it because it's a high percentage of the big and tall market," Chief Executive David Levin said. The retailer, which operates Casual Male XL retail and outlet stores and higher-end Rochester Clothing stores as well as a catalog and online business, plans to open four Destination XL stores during the fiscal second and third quarters. The stores represent a new direction for the company. Levin said he expects the increased product mix at Destination XL stores to attract a new customer and result in existing customers spending more.

The world's largest online marketplace has launched green.ebay.com, a microsite for conservation-minded consumers. The site is designed to help consumers access the millions of green products available on the marketplace.