Marketing Tactics

In August, women’s specialty apparel retailer Coldwater Creek, which operates 402 stores in 47 states, announced it had landed Deborah Cavanagh as its new chief marketing officer. She is charged with leading the multichannel brand’s marketing and creative services. One of Cavanagh’s first orders of business? To re-engage the Coldwater Creek core customer, as well as connect with new ones.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears and Kmart stores joined the growing list of national retailers whose stores will open on Thanksgiving Day.

Kmart, which has opened Thanksgiving Day for 22 years, this year will be open for 41 straight hours, starting at 6 a.m. Thanksgiving Day to 11 p.m. Black Friday.  Sears will open at 8 p.m. Thanksgiving Day.

Leading sales and marketing services provider Crossmark has enhanced its shopper marketing capabilities with the purchase of PromoWorks.

The transaction will result in Crossmark being the preferred product sampling and demonstration agency for 10 of the top 20 food retailers in North America and the exclusive event marketing planning agency for many of the top consumer brands, according to the company.

Von Maur has opened its first location in Alabama, just outside of Birmingham, at Riverchase Galleria in Hoover. The 185,000-sq.-ft. store is one of the largest locations in the country.

LONDON — P&G Professional, a division of Procter and Gamble that supplies professional cleaning products to hotels, restaurants, care homes and other businesses, has unveiled an e-commerce site making P&G Professional's new range of specialist branded cleaning products available for online purchase.

San Bruno, Calif. -- Walmart on Friday kicked off its online holiday deals, a month earlier than usual, and announced that it is offering free shipping on about 99% of its online items this year for orders over $50. (Last year, only about 15% of its assortment qualified for free shipping). The moves comes as retailers get ready for what is expected to be an extremely competitive season, one marked by intense promotional activity. Retailers are also challenged by this year’s calendar: Thanksgiving falls late, on Nov.

Chicago -- Claire's Stores has entered into a partnership with Dylan's Candy Bar, the world's largest confectionary emporium and lifestyle brand, whereby Claire’s will sell an edited selection of Dylan’s candies. The assortment features nearly 30 items, all under $24 – from lollipops, chocolate bars and fillable gummy bears to cotton candy buckets, cupcake pillows and sweet candy houses

Newegg, a leading electronics-focused e-retailer in the U.S., has kicked off this year’s Black November shopping event. The online retailer first unveiled Black November in 2010.

The company will be offering exclusive deals on the first four days of Black November across 60 categories, including computers, electronics, automotive, sporting goods and jewelry.