Marketing Tactics

The Woodlands, Texas -- Conn’s has opened two new HomePlus stores in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Laredo, Texas. The new Conn’s HomePlus store format showcases furniture and mattresses in addition to consumer electronics and home appliances.

Conn’s currently operates more than 70 retail locations in Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, Oklahoma and New Mexico.

Meijer is extending Cyber Monday into a weeklong sales event on Meijer.com, offering customers deep discounts and free shipping on orders of more than $75. The Midwestern retailer will offer Cyber Week savings from Sunday through Dec. 7.

San Francisco – U.S. retailers are showing cautious optimism for the upcoming holiday shopping season. According to a survey of 77 U.S, retailers in July 2013 with annual revenue of less than $20 million to $5 billion by e-commerce technology provider Baynote, 38% of respondents project an 11 to 20% year-over-year increase in online sales, with 22% predicting an increase of 21% or more.

Lowe’s has integrated Point Inside's StoreMode mobile shopper engagement platform into its mobile app to improve the in-store customer experience, just in time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Shoppers at all Lowe's locations will be able to use the Product Locator capability to search for products and instantly see where they are located on a detailed store map using Lowe's iOS and Android mobile apps or Lowe's mobile-optimized website.

Independent agency network Project: WorldWide and its shopper engagement agency, Shoptology, have named Ken Madden as head of digital at Shoptology. Madden will report directly to Shoptology CEO Charlie Anderson.

Early this week, Target began to generate traffic to its e-commerce site ahead of Cyber Week. They offered REDcard holders an exclusive online Black Friday preview sale, and Cartwheel app users Black Friday-like deals.

Cartwheel is the digital savings program that allows guests to choose in-store offers and claim savings directly from their smartphones, which Target began rolling out earlier this year.

Longueuil, Quebec -- Canadian drug store operator The Jean Coutu Group is looking to boost holiday sales and make shopping more convenient this holiday season with the launch of an “e-store” window inside the Longueuil Metro Station.

Located in the A Wing of the Longueuil Metro Station, a key public transit hub, the e-store window allows consumers to make holiday purchases online on the spot using their smartphones. Purchased items can be delivered to the address of their choosing before Dec. 24.

Free food, double pay and generous merchandise discounts are available to the more than one million Walmart employees called upon to work Thanksgiving weekend.

Walmart on Wednesday highlighted some of the benefits workers at its store will receive this weekend, including a 25% discount off an entire purchase, a Thanksgiving meal throughout Black Friday shifts and double pay for employees willing to endure the madness of Black Friday events scheduled for 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.