Marketing Tactics

Dublin, Calif. - Ross Dress for Less will open four new locations in the greater Chicago area on March 8, 2014. These openings bring the total number of Chicago area stores to 35 for the retailer.  

Wayne, N.J. — Ahead of the holiday season, Toys"R"Us announced that it will expand its layaway program and incorporate flexible payment options in order to spur holiday sales. The retailer is offering its layaway service along with Bill Me Later to enable customers to complete purchase through a series of smaller payments over time.

Toys"R"Us introduced layaway in 2009 for such big-ticket items as bicycles and swing sets and on Oct. 15 will expand the program to include playthings in 450 of its 600 stores.

An opening salvo has been fired in the Black Friday battle and this one emanated from South Florida where the massive Sawgrass Mills outlet mall announced it will stay open around the clock beginning at 10 p.m. on Thanskgiving day. The mall is home to a Super Target and about 350 other stores.

New York City -- Centro Properties Group US announced it has officially changed its name to Brixmor Property Group, Inc., effective immediately. 

The name change follows the acquisition of the company in June by an affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI L.P. 

Brixmor is the second largest owner of community and neighborhood shopping centers in the United States with 585 properties aggregating approximately 92 million sq. ft.

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — Supervalu announced that it has committed $1 million to sponsor 1,542 youth sports teams in markets where its Acme, Albertsons, Cub Foods, Farm Fresh, Jewel-Osco and Shaws/Star Market stores operate. 

The revelation this week that Target chief marketing officer Michael Francis had jumped ship to become president at JCPenney was a surprising development that sucked some of the oxygen out of the retailer’s Minneapolis headquarters. Target is all about marketing and Francis was instrumental in shaping some of the most interesting customer communications the marketing world saw during the past decade. He was so highly thought of that earlier this year he was tapped to lead Target’s entry into Canada, arguably the company’s most significant longer term growth driver.

Wayne, N.J. --Toys "R" Us Inc. will expand its layaway program and incorporate flexible payment options in order to spur holiday sales.

The chain’s layaway program, offered at its Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us stores nationwide, in conjunction with a limited-time Bill Me Later service, will enable customers to make a series of smaller payments over time.

Los Angeles — A survey released Monday by PriceGrabber, a part of Experian, found that consumers plan to spend the same or less on 2011 holiday shopping.

According to the survey, 45% of consumers intend to spend less money during the 2011 winter holiday shopping season than they did in 2010. Forty-nine percent of consumers will spend the same amount that they spent last year, and only 7% plan to spend more this year.

Conducted from Sept. 7–15, 2011, the survey includes responses from 3,070 U.S. online shopping consumers.