
Target

Back in May, Target announced that it would no longer be selling the Amazon Kindle. Earlier this month, Wal-Mart followed suit. While neither big-box retailer explained exactly why they've declared war on Amazon.com's tablet, the motive is clear. Every time Target or Wal-Mart sells a Kindle, they put their brick-and-mortar stores in jeopardy by providing Amazon even greater reach in its digital retail power grab. Viewed in this context, the tandem moves are direct, sharp-shooter responses aimed directly across the bow of a major competitor.
Starting October 14, Target will feature 20 toys at the front of its aisles promoted with signs featuring QR codes. Shoppers with smartphones can scan the codes to buy any of those items and have them shipped free. "Providing this convenience for mom is about ensuring that she's able to shop the way that she wants to," said Stephanie Lucy, Target's vice president of toys and the mother of two who knows about not wanting to ruin the surprise of the holidays.
"Falling for You" is about selling stuff, more or less in real time. Whenever an item appears in the film, it simultaneously flashes on the right side of the screen, where viewers captivated by the lipstick, watch or pants-like apparatus can click on what appears to be either a heart or smudge of insect blood. At the conclusion of the film, viewers can buy everything they've hearted/blood-smudged and social-mediafy it to all their pals. I'm happy to report that the technology works seamlessly.
Welcome to this week's "Pin of the Week." This week's featured pin is an infographic titled "The Social Retail Competition" from Unmetric, a social media analytics provider. The infographic is based on a study by Unmetric that focuses on how retailers are battling it out in the social media space.
Target announced on Tuesday its most ambitious foray into so-called "branded entertainment" with a 12-minute-long film, "Falling for You," that showcased more than 100 home, beauty and fashion items the company is promoting for the fall season.
As the tablet wars ratchet up for the holiday season, mass merchants are kicking the competition off the shelf. Wal-Mart is dropping the Amazon Kindle (and all Amazon.com products). That follows Target's spring dismissal of Amazon and its Kindle as the online retailer becomes ever-more competitive. Now, Toys"R"Us, encouraged by the hot-selling children's tablet it sold exclusively last year, is introducing its own branded tablet and ditching Nabi, leaving the next-generation Nabi 2 to be sold by Amazon, Best Buy, Target and Wal-Mart.
comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, released a study on U.S. smartphone shopping behavior based on data from its comScore Mobile Metrix 2.0 service. The study found that four in every five smartphone users — 85.9 million in total — accessed retail content on their device in July. Amazon.com sites led as the top retailer with an audience of 49.6 million visitors, while multichannel retailers including Apple (17.7 million visitors), Wal-Mart (16.3 million visitors), Target (10 million visitors) and Best Buy (7.2 million visitors) also attracted significant mobile audiences.
The former Target chief marketing officer and J.C. Penney president will join Gap on Sept. 17 in an advisory role, Ad Age has learned. According to an executive close to the company, Gap CEO Glenn Murphy recently announced the news to a select group of executives. Mr. Francis will be the company's first marketing creative adviser and is expected to spend two weeks a month in the Gap offices. A Gap spokeswoman declined to comment. Mr. Francis could not immediately be reached for comment.
You will not see huge markdown sales at Target when you shop for gifts this Holiday season. Instead Target is opt out of the price wars during the hottest shopping season of the year, and if that means it loses sales rivals, Target says it is Ok. "We're not interested in driving sales for the sake of sales, so you might see us lag competitors in terms of comp-store sales increases," said John Mulligan, EVP/CFO of Target, during Goldman Sachs' Global Retailing Conference last week.
Nordstrom is working on its image. Like just about every other retailer out there, the 111-year-old department store is trying to upgrade with a younger, digital-friendly twist. In the past couple years, the brand has done a bunch of things to try and make that happen: It's courted Jason Wu (straight off the smash success of his Target collab) for a younger, contemporary line and it will be launching Topshop boutiques within its stores and on its website this fall. But probably its biggest push in the young-hip-online direction has been the acquisition of flash-sale site HauteLook.