Marketing Tactics

BJ's Wholesale Club is spreading its Black Friday deals across an entire week (Sunday, Nov. 24 through Sunday, Dec. 1), excluding Thanksgiving on Thursday, Nov. 28. The retailer says it is offering more than twice as many Black Friday deals this year as it did last year.

New York -- Office Depot and OfficeMax announced the completion of their merger late Tuesday and from the looks of third quarter results released the same day the deal should prove beneficial to both companies.

Office Depot said its third quarter same store sales declined 2%, while OfficeMax said its comps dropped 2.8% in the U.S. and 2.2% in Mexico.

The combined company will use the name Office Depot, Inc. and will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ODP.

With plans to more than double its 200,000 global workforce in the foreseeable future, Starbucks is making a push to hire veterans and active duty spouses, much like other retailers like Walmart and Home Depot.

In addition, a store in Lakewood, Wash., and a store in San Antonio, Texas, will begin sharing a portion of each transaction with nonprofit programs Operation GoodJobs and Vested in Vets as part of a commitment to establish five such stores in joint base communities around the United States.

Framingham, Mass. – Holiday shoppers are seeking omni-channel solutions. According to a new national survey from Staples, two-thirds of consumers say they are equally as likely to purchase gifts online as they are to shop in-store.

The Staples study also reveals that 87% of gift shoppers admit they’ve had problems buying presents during the holiday season and 63% of gift givers report that nearly half of the people on their list are difficult to buy for, causing stress and frustration.

Other findings include:

Nike has promoted Scott LeClair, currently the brand’s VP and GM of Nike Skate and Nike Snow, to the position of VP of action sports. He will be responsible for leading the category as well as for Hurley International.

He replaces Nike veteran Roger Wyett, who has decided to retire according to the company.

Westborough, Mass. -- BJ's Wholesale Club is spreading its Black Friday deals across an entire week (Sunday, Nov. 24 through Sunday, Dec. 1), excluding Thanksgiving on Thursday, Nov. 28. The retailer says it is offering more than twice as many Black Friday deals this year as it did last year.

Michaels is offering a free, interactive “Just Add Wishes” DIY site to help consumers with holiday needs. From Nov. 11 through Dec. 24, kids can interact with a live elf through streaming video.

After hours, kids can play games and build wish lists that parents can share on Facebook. On Christmas Eve, the site becomes a Santa Tracker, including a Santa locator, behind-the-scenes information from the North Pole control tower and the Santa Cam, where kids get to see Santa at work putting presents under trees and filling stockings.

Greenwood Village, Colo. — Red Robin Gourmet Burgers has announced that it will open two new restaurants, one in Secaucus, N.J., and another in the Cincinnati metro area. To help celebrate the grand opening of the new restaurants, the company will donate the proceeds of all sales of its signature Freckled Lemonade during the two restaurants’ first week of operation to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to finding cures for kids with cancer.