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Chicago -- A majority (88%) of retailers are using social media as part of their 2013 holiday marketing blitz. But they still remain divided about mobile marketing, with only 38% using it this year, down from 50% in 2012.

CommonKindness president and co-founder Sarah Schloemer has been named the winner of a Silver Stevie Award in the Young Entrepreneur of the Year category in the 10th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business are the world’s top honors for female entrepreneurs, executives, employees and the organizations they run. All individuals and organizations worldwide are eligible to submit nominations: public and private, for-profit and nonprofit, large and small. The 2013 awards received entries from 18 nations and territories.

San Francisco – U.S. retailers are showing cautious optimism for the upcoming holiday shopping season. According to a survey of 77 U.S, retailers in July 2013 with annual revenue of less than $20 million to $5 billion by e-commerce technology provider Baynote, 38% of respondents project an 11 to 20% year-over-year increase in online sales, with 22% predicting an increase of 21% or more.

Meijer is extending Cyber Monday into a weeklong sales event on Meijer.com, offering customers deep discounts and free shipping on orders of more than $75. The Midwestern retailer will offer Cyber Week savings from Sunday through Dec. 7.

Early this week, Target began to generate traffic to its e-commerce site ahead of Cyber Week. They offered REDcard holders an exclusive online Black Friday preview sale, and Cartwheel app users Black Friday-like deals.

Cartwheel is the digital savings program that allows guests to choose in-store offers and claim savings directly from their smartphones, which Target began rolling out earlier this year.

Free food, double pay and generous merchandise discounts are available to the more than one million Walmart employees called upon to work Thanksgiving weekend.

Walmart on Wednesday highlighted some of the benefits workers at its store will receive this weekend, including a 25% discount off an entire purchase, a Thanksgiving meal throughout Black Friday shifts and double pay for employees willing to endure the madness of Black Friday events scheduled for 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.

Los Angeles – A majority of the 348,235 tweets about Black Friday posted between Friday, Nov. 22 and Sunday, Nov. 24 were either positive or neutral in sentiment. According to analysis from social media research firm Fizziology, tweets about Black Sunday the weekend of Nov. 22-24 were 47% positive, 11% negative, 3% mixed and 39% neutral (from retailers/promotions).

Boston – College students are planning to buy holiday gifts that offer experiential value or economic flexibility and will frequent discount stores, according to a new survey of roughly 1,000 college students from consumer marketing firm Fluent.