Best Buy

As the back-to-school shopping season winds down, retailers still have the opportunity to engage consumers by helping them make smart, informed and value-driven choices.

Best Buy is introducing a location-based retail experiment that examines the way in-store shoppers redeem offers and rewards via their mobile device. Consumers who walk in a Best Buy store will receive offers via the shopkick iPhone application. The experiment will take place in 257 United States stores.

Target Corp. on Tuesday defended the use of its new freedom to spend money on political campaigns as employees and gay organizations criticized a $150,000 donation that will help a Minnesota GOP gubernatorial candidate who opposes gay marriage.

Best Buy said it also plans to invest in a centralized, ultrasonic humidification system, which it said with both save energy and provide a return on investment within a year.  The company will also focus on reducing fleet fuel use, tighter operational controls, reduced plug loads, and carbon offsets or renewable energy credits.

— Best Buy has confirmed plans to launch its branded mobile broadband internet service, Best Buy Connect, on 11 July 2010. The internet plans will be available with and without contracts for prices starting at USD 29.99 for 250 megabytes.

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.

On day two of the Retail Marketing Conference in Orlando, Fla., last month, a panel of executives from Best Buy, Dell and 1-800-Flowers.com took part in a roundtable discussion on how their businesses have evolved their brand, e-commerce and marketing strategies to differentiate themselves from their competition through innovation.

"Five years from now, we'll be more focused on our delivery business, with a higher mix of technology, and sell more private-label products," Ron Sargent, Staples' chairman/CEO, told investors attending the 26th Sanford Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference. "There will be more services in our mix, because there is not a lot of inventory and the margins are great.” The company will continue to expand its technology offerings. "We're already the third-largest reseller of computers, behind Best Buy and Walmart, but the problem with computers is that the more you sell, the more you lose — you price them low and promote them heavily."

After your from line, the most compelling thing motivating recipients to open your email is its subject line. You know the drill: To stand out in a cluttered inbox, you have to work hard to capture attention. Subject lines must be carefully crafted to develop innovative ways to present your latest promotions and products.

The Mobile Marketing Association today highlighted its efforts and focus to minimize the cost, risk and time to market for consumer agencies, brands and retailers as they implement mobile marketing strategies. The initiative is designed to further the recent trend among major agencies, brands and retailers — including Ogilvy Interactive, Isobar and Best Buy — as they move their mobile budgets out of the R&D column and into their mainstream marketing programs.