Marketing Tactics

Bentonville, Ark. –- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which launched a video game trade-in program in March 2014, is now building on the program by offering used video games for sale in 1,700 stores. These games will be sold in their own section or alongside other value titles.  

A strong start to holiday season at Toys “R” hinges on a carefully curated offering of merchandise offered online and in a catalog known as The Great Big Christmas Book being distributed to households this week.

Strong sales and market share gains for Opa by Litehouse Feta Dill Greek Yogurt earned the new product the Dressing of the Year award from The Association for Dressings & Sauces.

The dressing and sauce group held its annual meeting in Naples, Fl., recently and bestowed top honors on Litehouse due to the impressive performance of Feta Dill Greek Yogurt. In one year, the new product became the best-selling dressing in the market accounting for 21% of the yogurt refrigerated salad dressing category, according to Litehouse.
 

Carle Place, N.Y. –- 1-800-Flowers.com reported a net loss of $4.58 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2015, a slight improvement from the $4.64 million net loss reported in the same quarter a year earlier. Expenses drove the company’s net loss.  

St. Louis -- Build-A-Bear Workshop is opening a new store location in the Brill Building in Times Square in New York City on Tuesday, Oct. 28. This seasonal pop-up shop offers an assortment of proprietary products, licensed properties and New York City-themed merchandise.   

Sears and Amazon.com both recently came under fire for allowing rings decorated with the Nazi swastika symbol to be posted for sale on their third-party seller sites. While both retailers quickly pulled the items down and issued public apologies, they received a large amount of negative publicity and surely damaged their brand image with many offended customers, perhaps to the point of permanently losing some of them.

Micaela Erlanger, a stylist to the stars and a self-proclaimed "vintage-a-holic, and glamour girl," has joined the Maidenform brand as an ambassador and spokesperson through March 2015.

Erlanger will guide the Maidenform customer, offering  tips, picks and styling insight via the brand's website and social media platforms.

Nashville -- Responding to the Ebola virus that has ravaged West Africa, the Retail Orphan Initiative (RetailROI) is launching a major campaign to help fight Ebola in Liberia. Working with its partner charities operating in Liberia, the #RetailFightsEbola campaign is rallying retailers, manufacturers and individuals to provide much-needed medical and hygienic supplies to Liberia.