Marketing Tactics

As part of its ongoing strategy to drive sustainability innovation, Staples will be giving away $25,000 in new tech products to 10 “eco-focused” schools in Canada in 2015.

Publicly funded schools that are focused on the environment are invited to enter the contest atStaples.ca/PowerEco and share their eco initiatives for a chance to win. The Staples Superpower your School Contest runs through Jan. 31.

By Greg Van den Heuvel, Pitney Bowes Software

Black Friday traditionally marks the first day of the holiday shopping season. During the most recent holiday season, millions of Americans have participated in the shopping frenzy, which according to CMO.com, accounts for nearly 40% of all annual sales. Black Friday weekend alone accounted for 133 million American shoppers, diving deep into discounts, hoping to land the best deal and get a head start on their holiday shopping.

New York -- Closing out the 2014 holiday shopping season, Internet retail traffic soared to new heights during the first weekend in January, according to Verizon Enterprise Solutions’ Retail Index.

The Index measures average daily traffic and peak volumes, with both variables used an index with a baseline value of 100. The Index was 130 on Friday (Jan. 2), 134 on Saturday (Jan. 3) and 137 points on Sunday (Jan 4).

Embattled teen retailer Wet Seal Inc. has defaulted on $27 million in senior convertible notes and related costs.

In a regulatory filing, Wet Seal said the total amount due is equal to $28.8 million, plus costs of collection, attorneys’ fees and disbursements.

Retailers set more online sales records this holiday season and that means UPS will be busy in early January.

UPS is projecting its highest volume for return activity will be Jan. 6 when the carrier expects consumers will ship more than 800,000 packages back to retailers and merchants. By the end of the first full week of January, return volume is expected to total roughly four million packages.

Pataskala, Ohio – Specialty apparel retailer Avenue Stores is turning its online customers into brand advocates by using ShopSocially’s referral marketing solution to generate referrals from its website users.    By encouraging users to connect with the Avenue brand on Facebook and share their purchases on social media, Avenue is driving word-of-mouth promotions resulting in a referral traffic that is converting at a rate as high as 28.48%.   

Former top Sears executive Mark Cohen is at it again with harsh words recently about Sears holiday performance and long term viability.

Cohen, former chairman and CEO of Sears Canada turned teacher at Columbia’s business school, appeared on CNBC to share his views on a holiday season with top line growth that appears to have exceeded earlier forecasts.

“Sears again is going to be an enormous loser,” Cohen said.

Tractor Supply Company has strengthened its partnership with the National 4-H Council by taking in $763,283 for the organization during a 10-day national in-store fundraiser.

With the $1.5 million Tractor Supply raised during spring and fall campaigns, Tractor Supply has now donated nearly $6.5 million to 4-H programs across the country in just over four years.