Marketing Tactics

Retailers are really taking notice of how valuable pop-up shops are as a marketing tool, including PetSmart, which has partnered with the City of Detroit and the nonprofit community organization Detroit Dog Park to set up a portable, pop-up dog park in a vacant lot in Detroit.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores posted disappointing results for its first quarter, with earnings down 5% as harsh winter weather kept shoppers away. The company also gave a weak earnings forecast for its current quarter that fell short of analysts' estimates.

For the period ended April 30, Wal-Mart earned $3.59 billion, compared with $3.78 billion a year ago, less than analysts expected. In addition to the unusually harsh winter weather, a higher-than-expected tax rate also hurt earnings, the retailer said.

Columbus, Ohio -- Chute Gerdeman has announced four team member promotions, including the appointment of Mary Lynn Waite, formerly senior designer, brand communications, to creative director.

In other promotions:

• Steve Boreman, previously senior designer, brand communications, has been named design director, brand communications.  

• Kevin Worden has been promoted to director of digital integration, information technology.  

Shoppers in Central and South America can now shop eBay in Spanish and Portuguese using their local currencies.

The global commerce platform and a mobile commerce leader launched Spanish- and Portuguese-language sites to better serve customers across Latin America.

More than 2 million people in Latin America already shop eBay in English and U.S. dollars. Now, when these customers visit eBay, they will see localized shopping experiences in Spanish or Portuguese — online and on eBay mobile.

Marc Jacobs Beauty has launched an e-commerce website featuring more than 150 products in the Marc Jacobs Beauty collection, as well as exclusive access to limited-edition product offerings.

The site was developed with responsive design, and showcases a modern, center navigation, high-definition product shots with zoom capability, and true-to-life product swatches.

Chicago -- General economic conditions, federal, state and/or local regulations, and retail competition/consolidation ranked as the top three risk factors cited by retailers, according to a survey by BDO USA. Rounding out the top five: U.S. and foreign supplier/vendor concerns and labor (health coverage, union concerns, staffing) concerns.            
 

LeBron James has teamed up with Sprite to change the game off the court for four people via a social media contest.

Winston-Salem, N.C. – Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. has named Anthony N. (“Tony”) Thompson, 47, as president and CEO, effective June 1. Thompson joins the company from Papa John’s International Inc., where he most recently served as president and COO.