Marketing Tactics

York, Pa. -- The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. reported a loss of $36.2 million in the second quarter, narrowed from a loss of $37.3 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue edged up 1.1% to $563.5 million, compared with $557.1 million in the prior year period. Same-store sales increased 1.6%.

“We were pleased that we achieved comparable store sales growth, particularly given the challenging promotional environment and continuation of soft traffic trends,” said Brendan Hoffman, CEO.

Houston -- Stage Stores, Inc. reported net income of $11.2 million for the second quarter, compared with $9.6 million last year.

Total sales were $377 million. Same-store sales decreased 4.2%.

“We found the second quarter to be challenging, but we were encouraged that our sales trend improved towards the end of the quarter,” said Michael Glazer, CEO. “We expect improved second half results given our sales driving initiatives.”

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. on Wednesday reported a 61.7% drop in Q2 earnings. The chain also lowered slashed its annual profit outlook as it continues to deal with weak results in Canada, sluggish U.S. sales and the lingering effects of its data breach.   

Target earned $234 million in the quarter ended Aug. 2, down from $611 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue rose 1.7% to $17.4 billion, slightly above the $17.38 billion analysts had expected.

Salisbury, N.C. -- Delhaize America banner Food Lion has unveiled a new shopping experience for customers in 31 stores in the greater Wilmington, North Carolina, market, and has announced plans to remodel 45 stores in Greenville as part of the grocery’s "Easy, Fresh and Affordable…You Can Count on Food Lion Every Day" strategy.

New York -- Seiko Corporation of America, a subsidiary of Seiko Watch Corporation, announced the grand opening of its first Seiko boutique to enter the United States at 510 Madison Avenue in New York City.  

The New York Seiko boutique is primarily dedicated to Seiko's collections, but also features boutique exclusives.

Framingham, Mass. -- T.J.Maxx will be opening five stores in the Chicagoland area starting this week and through October.

"The opening of these five stores in the Chicagoland area marks a momentous occasion for our brand," Richard Sherr, president of T.J.Maxx, stated.

All five T.J.Maxx stores will occupy over 122,000 sq. ft. of retail space.

New York -- Lane Bryant announced that American ready-to-wear designer Lela Rose will be creating a limited-edition line exclusively for the special-sized retailer. The collection is set to hit stores summer 2015, and will be sold under the Lela Rose Exclusively for Lane Bryant label.

Lela Rose will be the third designer collaboration for Lane Bryant, joining the Sophie Theallet and Isabel Toledo collections.

Staples has enlisted Kenshoo, a global leader in predictive media optimization technology, and RevTrax, a promotions platform that drives and measures in-store sales through digital coupons, to help the company optimize omnichannel campaigns in Canada.