Marketing Tactics

Father’s Day is Sunday, June 18, and retailers and dads alike will have reason to smile, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).    American adults who plan to consume this holiday will do so in a big way, spending an average of $169.60 at predominantly at physical retailers, according to ICSC’s most recent consumer survey.    Here are eight specific findings:  

Amazon.com is reportedly going to make it easier for third-party sellers on its Marketplace platform to sell certain items.  

The second quarter of fiscal 2016 is not yet over for home furnishings retailer Havertys, but shareholders may have reason to be optimistic.   Havertys reported that sales for the quarter to date are up approximately 3.6% from the same period last year and comparable store sales are up 3.2%. Total written sales for the quarter to date are up approximately 7%, and written comparable store sales rose 6.7%.   

Brookshire Grocery Co. is expanding with a new neighborhood format.    The Tyler, Texas-based supermarket operator will open 26 locations this summer under its new Spring Market banner. The stores will be on the sites of former Walmart Express stores that Brookshire is in the process of acquiring. (The acquisition is scheduled to close in July.) The locations range from southern Louisiana to west Texas.  

The nation’s highest-profile electric car-marker is taking an unusual route to get its product out in front of potential customers.

Target Corp. is donating $250,000 to the OneOrlando Fund in honor of the retailer's two associates and other victims killed in the nightclub massacre that occurred early Sunday morning in Orlando, Florida.   Target lost two employees, Mercedes Flores and Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, in the mass shootings. Flores was a Target employee for eight years, and Ocasio-Capo for two years. A third Target employee remains in critical condition.   

Summer is an interesting time in the world of retail. With lazy vacation-stilted months in June and July and the comparatively bustling back-to-school energy of August, it is a season of contradictions. While, yes, the unique challenges and opportunities of summer sales patterns and scheduling are different than any other time of the year, understanding what is likely on tap for retailers this summer requires an appreciation for certain universal factors that play a role no matter what the calendar says.  

For retailers that advertise on Facebook, determining the volume of store traffic and purchases generated by the ads can be tricky at best.