Marketing

By Dustin Watson, partner and director of sustainability, DDG

Place-making has become perhaps the essential element in creating value in today’s competitive retail environment.

Anaheim, Calif. – Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. reported a net loss of $22.5 million during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013, up from a net loss of $19.8 million in the same period a year earlier. Net sales dropped 2% to $218.6 million $222.8 million, while same-store sales rose 2%.

Pacific Sunwear cited the 53rd week in fiscal 2012 as negatively affecting its comparative fiscal 2013 results. Looking ahead, the retailer expects a same-store sales increase of 1 to 4% and revenues of $169 million to $174 million during fiscal 2014.

The growth of e-commerce contributed to an 8% increase in average daily FedEx Ground volume, but severe winter weather exacted a heavy toll on the company’s profitability.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Starting Wednesday, March 26, Wal-Mart customers will be able to trade in their video games and apply the value immediately toward the purchase of anything sold at Walmart and Sam’s Club, both in stores and online. The traded-in games will then be sent to be refurbished and made available for purchase in like-new condition at a reduced price.

The program will work as follows:

• Customers bring their working video games, in the original packaging, to the electronics department.

Yonkers, N.Y. – Banana Republic will become a new retailer at the Ridge Hill shopping center in Yonkers, N.Y. Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC), the developer and owner of Ridge Hill, said the Banana Republic location will open beneath the center's Uniqlo store.

The worlds of technology and fashion continue to merge with the most recent example involving the Fossil Group’s involvement with Google for a new line called Android Wear.

Fossil Group, the $3.3 billion global fashion accessories company, said it was working with Google to support the extension of Android technology in wearable products branded as Android Wear. As part of the launch, Google also released a developer preview of Android Wear so that developers are better able to build rich wearable experiences for their existing Android apps.

Colorado Springs, Colo. - Accellos, Inc. is launching a new website dedicated toward the unique needs of home goods retailers located at Profitsystems.com. Profitsystems, recently acquired by Accellos in November 2013 and based out of Colorado Springs, Colo., a retail inventory and point of sale system software provider for home goods retailers.

Retailers have been known to employ all sorts of clever devices when commemorating a grand opening, but shapewear retailer Spanx takes the practice to a new level.

Home Depot was known to saw a board in half in lieu of a traditional ribbon cutting and outdoor retailer Gander Mountain once had an archer with a razor tipped arrow sever the ribbon. When Spanx opens its fourth retail location on April 11 at the International Plaza mall in Tampa the company plans to commemorate the occasion with a hosiery cutting as part of a “jiggle-free jubilee.”