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With its same store sales ever on the decline, Kmart is making it even easier for shoppers to afford gifts this holiday season by introducing a new kind of layaway plan.

The retailer announced that No Money Down Layaway is returning for its second year, and for the first time ever, Kmart is introducing No Money Down Leasing. 

The National Retail Federation found that more than 40% of Americans begin shopping for the holidays prior to October and of those, 60% shop early in order to spread their budgets.

Austin, Texas – Whole Foods Market is sharing the love with its consumers, across channels.

From Sept. 9 to Nov. 3, the Whole Foods Love Fest will offer special deals and events including surprises on its local and national social media channels.

Other features will include weekly $500 giveaways in stores, weekly product offers, and customized events and giveaways.

Fremont, Calif. – The Men’s Wearhouse Inc. likes the way its second quarter earnings look — even if its Jos. A. Bank unit continues to struggle.

Net earnings almost quadrupled to $47.8 million from $12.3 million, beating Wall Street estimates.

San Jose, Calif. – The nation’s largest online marketplace is celebrating its 20th anniversary, and it’s marking the occasion with a special shopping event — and a traveling Airstream trailer.

As many of us grasp at the last moments of summer, those in the retail industry have one eye on the end of the year -- the time between November and December. It makes sense: holiday shoppers spent over $616 billion dollars just last year between Black Friday and Christmas. And while the ample time and resources spent on these two annual marketing priorities is certainly deserved, it is easy to put all of our eggs in this basket, accidentally neglecting the major retailing opportunity just around the corner -- the first quarter.

San Jose, Calif. -- The back-to-school season traditionally gives retailers a much-needed boost, bringing traffic into stores in August. How did things turn out this year?

Not so great it turns out, according to RetailNext Inc., which provides retail analytics for brick-and-mortar stores. The firm’s, monthly Retail Performance Pulse revealed a 7.3% year-over-year decrease in sales on a 9.9% decline in traffic at physical stores for the retail month of August (Aug. 2 through Aug. 29 on the retail 4-5-4 calendar).

Austin, Texas – Labor Day is supposed to be a day of rest, but consumers are planning to work at shopping for the upcoming Labor Day holiday Sept. 7.

According to a recent RetailMeNot-Kelton survey, two in three (67%) people planning to spend money this Labor Day will spend an average of $144.

In addition, 13% anticipate their Labor Day spend will exceed $200. While 67% of consumers do actually plan to relax at home, one in three intend to visit the mall.

I know what you’re thinking … another article about programmatic. But given the rapid pace of advancements in the programmatic space, we’ve entered a time when advertisers and retailers are forced to reexamine their strategy, take a closer look at what programmatic means to their business, and prioritize the pieces of the puzzle they should be employing to reap the greatest benefits.

PetSmart is throwing a celebration at its stores that aims to appeal to pet owners and people who want to be pet owners.

For the first time, PetSmart will throw a “Happy Gotcha Day” celebration to help find homes for about 15,000 homeless pets during the next PetSmart Charities National Adoption Weekend, Sept. 11-13, when more than 1,400 PetSmart stores will host the event in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. The thousands of pets with unknown birthdays that are expected to be adopted will now have a day to call their own.

Sam's Club is taking on Costco in the auto buying program business by teaming up with one of the biggest names in car-shopping in an effort to boost its auto business.

The all-new Sam's Club Auto Buying Program will now be powered by TrueCar, Sam's Club announced Thursday. Sams Club says members will have access to more than 10,000 TrueCar Certified Dealers nationwide, more than three times the nearest competitor in the warehouse club channel (i.e., Costco).