Marketing Tactics

Middleton, Wis. -- American Girl, a division of Mattel, will open a store at Chesterfield Mall, in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield, Mo.

The 10,850-sq-.ft. American Girl store is slated to open in spring 2012.

Sylvia Mathews Burwell was named president of the Walmart Foundation Friday morning and will join the organization in January 2012. She currently serves as president global development for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and will replace Margaret McKenna who served as president of the Walmart Foundation since 2007 and announced her retirement earlier this year.

Promotions during September saw mixed outcome with some retailers increasing the number of pages and inserts, while the rest decreased the volume of promotions. The contrasting promotional strategies among the retailers led to the overall change being minimal. 

Like August, the largest decrease was Lowes, which saw a 61% drop in number of number of pages per market and 54% decline in inserts per market. This was a result of Lowes not having promotions in the second and third week of both August and September.

New York City -- Gap executives reaffirmed its commitment to reducing square footage at home, aggressive international expansion and online growth during a presentation at Gap Global Creative Center in New York City. Gap also revealed that its online-only Piperlime division will explore a store concept next year and is testing men’s apparel.

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook's influence on retail continues to grow as eBay announced that it has integrated the social network's Open Graph functionality into its storefront and fulfillment platforms.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target announced that has partnered with FishWish to help reach its goal selling only sustainable and traceable seafood in its stores by 2015. 

Bossier City, La. -- Covington, La.-based Stirling Properties, developer and property manager of Stirling Bossier Shopping Center, in Bossier City, La., announced the addition of Old Navy, Ulta Beauty, Maurices, Mattress Firm, The Joint and GNC to the center’s tenant lineup.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — Staples is looking to appeal to more small business customers by offering an expanded selection of printed products through its Copy & Print service. To further entice these customers, through Nov. 12, the company is offering 30% off all purchases of Copy & Print services of $30 or more produced in store, online or by phone.