Marketing Tactics

Social media has evolved into a powerful marketing tool for retailers. But so far, social commerce is not yet a major transactional channel.

Twitter is the latest social platform to attempt to take advantage of social media’s immediacy to offer direct purchase functionality aimed at impulse shoppers.

As the holidays approach, retailers are hoping the convenience and immediacy of e-commerce will prompt high volumes of online gift purchases.

But according to a new survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers from e-gift software provider Loop Commerce, there are some common problems that make consumers hesitate to buy gifts online.

Consumers have made it clear what type of marketing influences their purchase decisions, and it’s not always high-tech. According to a new study from branding network Experticity, 82% of marketers believe social media is extremely or somewhat effective in influencing buyer decisions, yet only 49% of consumers reported that they trust brand social media campaigns.

In addition, 83% of marketers believe traditional advertising is the most effective means of influencing buying decisions, but only 47% of consumers say they trust it.

Dollar General is looking to drive increased participation in its digital coupon program by featuring several enhanced benefits during the month of October.

Jill Stanton was named interim president of Old Navy after the top executive at Gap Inc.’s fastest growing division left the company to become CEO of Ralph Lauren.

Retailers wondering how much of an issue e-commerce returns are may not like the answer.

According to a new infographic from returns management software provider TrueShip, E-commerce returns are both prevalent and frequently the fault of the retailer.

TrueShip data shows that about one-third of all products purchased online are returned by consumers. Of these returns, almost one-quarter (23%) are due to the wrong item being shipped. Another 22% of e-commerce returns results from a product looking and appearing different when it arrives than it did online.

Lane Bryant is teaming up with the American Cancer Society on an omnichannel campaign to raise money for breast cancer research.

Since 2012, Lane Bryant customers and associates have contributed $1.4 million dollars to the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer campaign. The brand says it aims to increase the 2015 contribution by 21% for a total contribution of $2 million dollars in 4 years.

Proponents of the motto “image is everything” will be pleased with a new partnership eBay Inc. is launching.

The online retail platform is teaming up with visual commerce platform Curalate to give publishers the ability to drive traffic and revenue from images sourced from Instagram. 

The partnership offers Curalate Like2Buy, which allows users to directly click to purchases from Instagram images, to more than 100,000 publishers in the eBay Enterprise Affiliate Network.