Target

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.

Target's customers are looking for answers and connected solutions. Best Buy is looking for new customers, specifically how to reach women and families. So, is the Geek Squad and Target a match made in heaven? Most retail partnering experiments and mergers fail, but the Best Buy Geek Squad in Target might just work. The consumer needs for services in a mobile and highly connected digital world require more than the traditional product-centric merchandising of mass merchants.

Last week came news that a bevy of big-name retailers, including Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Target, are teaming up to create a company that will give consumers another way to make purchases: with their cellphones. The businesses said that the new company, Merchant Customer Exchange, is developing a mobile application for any smartphone that will integrate a variety of coupons, rebates and loyalty programs.

A bevy of big-name retailers including Wal-Mart, Best-Buy and Target are teaming up to create a company that will give consumers another way to make purchases: with their cellphones. The businesses said Wednesday that the new company, Merchant Customer Exchange, is developing a mobile application that will be available for nearly any smartphone. The app is expected to integrate a variety of coupons, rebates and loyalty programs.

Best Buy sells consumer electronics and so does Target. That would make the two companies competitors, right? Maybe yes and maybe no, depending on whom you ask and when. It was just over two years ago that Target, among others, was upping its game with the intention of grabbing share of the consumer electronics market. So how is it that we now come across a report by The Denver Post that Target is bringing Geek Squad "agents" into its 28 stores in the Denver market?

Digital marketing intelligence provider AdGooroo released a new report showing how major retailers such as Target, Toys"R"Us and Victoria's Secret outperformed Amazon.com in paid search engine marketing in specific categories, including children's products, fashion and apparel, and auto parts. Additionally, the report unveils the secrets of success employed by these brands.