Marketing Tactics

Digital design and marketing consultancy Razorfish made two key hires to bolster the capabilities of its rapidly growing commerce practice led by Commerce Strategy head Jason Goldberg.

Jon Reily and Steve White were named vice presidents of commerce strategy and both will report to Goldberg. The hire are said to help the agency meet the increasing demand from clients looking for partners able to combine commerce strategy with world-class delivery to reinvent and digitize their retail channels.

Target has quietly announced its next Lilly Pulitzer: a collaboration with another U.S. designer who will create a collection of new apparel, accessories, pet goods and home furnishings for the retailer.

Target announced on its Bullseye blog this week that it has chosen Adam Lippes to create more than 50 items inspired by buffalo plaid for the Adam Lippes for Target.

San Jose, Calif. – Retail sales dropped 7.6% in May 2015 compared to the same month the prior year. According to the monthly Store Performance Pulse from store analytics provider RetailNext, a 9.8% decrease in traffic and 8.3% drop in transactions drove the sales decline.

Much of these declines were concentrated in the third week of the month, leading to an earlier-than-usual Memorial Day weekend.

The Michaels Companies overcame weak same store sales growth to deliver strong profit growth in the first quarter.

The Texas-based retailer reported that for the first quarter ended May 2 its net income increased to $67 million or 32 cents per share from $47 million or 25 cents per share in the prior-year quarter. Net sales for the quarter grew 2.4% to $1.08 billion from $1.05 billion in the same quarter last year. Same store sales increased by 0.3%.

San Francisco – Summertime, and the living (and shopping) is easy. Williams-Sonoma Inc. is adhering to this summer ethic by partnering with Visa to launch a co-marketing campaign and four-part video series called “Time to Savor Summer.”  The video series, launched in support of the availability of the Visa Checkout online checkout service on the Williams-Sonoma e-commerce site, will be “shoppable” due to YouTube’s new shoppable video technology.

San Jose, Calif. – The eBay Valet professional selling service will now accept high-end clothing in addition to shoes, handbags, electronics and other popular household items. eBay Valet provides features such as price estimates for potential buyers, taking professional pictures, and shipping.

eBay partnered with fashion blogger Garance Doré to officially debut the expansion of eBay Valet. Dore provided tips and tricks on what to sell and how to sell fashion items.

Retailers planning their assortments for the holidays should get excited about a slew of new and innovative toy offerings from Disney.

Disney Consumer Products says it is joining together connected toys and wearable technology to put kids at the center of the world’s greatest stories from Disney, Marvel and Star Wars. A new system of toys and wearables from Disney will use smart technology to inspire kids to run around and use their imaginations, as they become the hero or heroine of stories from across the Walt Disney Company.

Kohl’s is stepping up again to make summer activities free for families this summer through a partnership with Summerfest.

The partnership will offer educational, fun and creative activities for children of all ages and their families, as well as the opportunity for patrons to gain free admission to the Summerfest festival.