Marketing Tactics

NEW YORK — Amid researching its customers' changing media habits, supermarket retailer Supervalu has partnered with a leading provider of digital marketing services and technology to enhance how the grocer reaches customers.

Supervalu said that after conducting a joint study with Nielsen Catalina Solutions, which measured more than 30 million impressions delivered by PointRoll, in-store sales at Supervalu experienced an overall increase during a three-month period, thanks to PointRoll's PaperBoy eCircular, an interactive expandable ad unit.

By Joseph R. Bona, [email protected]

Shanghai, China -- Mattel announced Monday that it has closed its much-acclaimed Barbie flagship store, which opened March 2009 in Shanghai.

The El Segundo, Calif.-based toy manufacturer, which officially closed the store’s doors on Monday, cited a change in strategy as reason for the closure. Mattel said in a statement that it plans to promote the Barbie brand via road tour -- on a pink tour bus.

An over-the-counter version of the antihistamine Allegra hit the marketplace this past Friday amid a promotional frenzy that was consistent with the approach taken when similar products such as Claritin and Zyrtec became available without a prescription. As was the case with other products before it, retailers are eager to get their share of sales so there tends to be considerable activity around the launch.