Marketing Tactics

Modell’s Sporting Goods is opening a flagship on the site of a former rival.   Modell’s will open a two-level, 20,000-sq.-ft. store on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, in a site formerly occupied by Sports Authority. The opening is slated for mid-November.    The store will become Modell’s flagship store in Manhattan, said William Rudin, CEO of property manager Rudin Management Company, in a release.  

REI has opened it largest location on the East Coast, a 51,000-sq.ft. flagship in Washington, D.C.   The store is designed to offer members of the outdoor community a place to meet and plan adventures — and shop for outdoor gear. It includes such features as a 1,052-sq.-ft. cafe, outdoor courtyard with a fire pit and tables, and a community space that offers a robust schedule of free and low-cost classes in-store classes for cycling, paddling, fitness, hiking and camping, climbing, snow sports, photography and wilderness medicine.

Canadian retailer Arc'teryx has opened a stylish pop-up dedicated to its Veilance outerwear menswear collection.     Arc'teryx partnered with New York-based design firm Snarkitecture on the temporary store, located in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood, which will be open until January 8, 2017.   

An extended holiday season could translate into an 11% increase in online sales with mobile devices leading the charge.   Adobe’s “2016 Digital Insights Shopping Predictions” report predicts that 53 consecutive days (57 calendar days in total) will exceed $1 billion in online sales, compared to 31 consecutive days last year — a 71% year-over-year (YoY) increase.   

Regardless of when retailers start their sales, Black Friday weekend is shaping up to feature the biggest deals yet.   According to BlackFriday.fm, a website that tracks the best Black Friday deals, news, and ad scans, “the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are going to be bigger than ever this year, “ said Rene Kirschbaum, director of BlackFriday.fm.   Among the retailers to watch include:  

The upcoming United States presidential election is so tumultuous that it’s influencing shoppers to pull back holiday shopping plans.    With the election falling in the middle of holiday shopping, many U.S. consumers said they will have a more conservative holiday spending budget this year, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual consumer spending survey, a report that tapped 7,733 consumers about holiday shopping plans.   

Knowing frazzled customers are in search of overall value, Walmart is emphasizing customer service this holiday season.   

Boot Barn’s second quarter performance rose slightly, meeting Wall Street estimates.    The western-influenced specialty retailer reported $134 million in revenue for the second quarter ending Sept. 24, 2016, a 3.3% increase from $129.7 million in the prior-year period. This jump also exceeded Wall Street’s estimate of $131.61 million. Boot Barn credited the increase to 13 new stores opened over the past 12 months, and a 1.8% increase in same-store sales. Two of those stores opened the chain during the second quarter.