Cross-Merchandising

Columbus, Ohio – Express Inc. will be using Rich Media Messaging (RMM) technology from Iris Mobile to drive the fashion retailer’s seasonal “Back-to-Business” sweepstakes campaign with GQ Magazine. A combination of both a participant-based sweepstakes and a voting-based contest, this campaign will award one emerging startup entrepreneur with a grant from Express based on public votes.

Atlanta -- Country Club Prep, an e-commerce retailer for preppy apparel, is hosting the grand opening of its first brick-and-mortar store in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 23. Launched from a basement in 2012 by two former attorneys Matt Watson and Stephen Glasgow, the concept will launch its brick-and-mortar presence at the University of Virginia.

Nordstrom’s Sarah Jessica Parker line of handbags and shoes will be sold in five more stores this fall, bringing the total number of stores carrying the collection to 30.

The company announced Monday that locations in Troy, Michigan; Bellevue, Washington; Skokie, Illinois; Austin, Texas; and Newport Beach, California would start carrying the film and TV star’s products. To accompany the expansion, Parker will tour three malls from Aug. 21-23 to promote her line.

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in July 2013 versus July 2014 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains. The start of the back-to-school season saw large decreases in these metrics for both Staples and Walmart across the board. Walmart continued its trend of smaller, less dense, highly-targeted and themed circulars. It barely touched on BTS on the front pages of its July 2013 circulars, with only a small laptop ad and some apparel promotions. 2014 saw a more concentrated effort as early as 7/13, prominently featuring notebooks, glue sticks, and crayons.

Los Angeles - The Canadian market offers an opportunity for U.S. retailers to expand and to gain experience operating in an international market. According to a new study from market research firm IbisWorld, the U.S. retail segment best suited for expansion into Canada is department stores, followed by men’s clothing stores.

North Bergen, N.J. - The Vitamin Shoppe will host its latest "Share the Health" expo on Aug. 16, in more than 600 stores nationwide. As part of this event, each store will offer its own specialized festivities, such as free product samples and consultations with local wellness partners.

This marks the ninth Share the Health Expo hosted by the Vitamin Shoppe since 2012. The Vitamin Shoppe stores will host wellness partners from their communities throughout the day, ranging from local gyms and spas to chiropractors and product representatives.

Dole Fresh Fruit’s sales and marketing team will be taking a trip to Kannapolis, North Carolina, to see the company’s Nutrition Research Laboratory on the state’s research campus.
 
The visitors will be led by Dole’s VP of nutrition research Nicholas Gillitt, who will show them around the campus and explain research in the hope that the marketing team will pass it on to consumers.
 

Shanghai, China -- M&M’S celebrated the grand opening of its first M&M’S World store in Asia – M&M’s World Shanghai, a 17,000+-sq.-ft. entertainment destination that marks the brand’s fifth M&M’s World flagship store. Current flagships include Times Square, New York; Orlando; Las Vegas; and Leicester Square London.
 
Spanning two floors and combining iconic Chinese landmarks and cultural elements, the store features a large array of candies and M&M-branded merchandise.

Richardson, Texas -- Commercial real estate development and investment firm KDC announced that Regency Centers will build a 40,000-sq.-ft. store for Whole Foods Market in its CityLine Market development at KDC’s 186-acre mixed-use CityLine project in Richardson, Texas.

Beauty retailer bareMinerals unveiled its new bareMinerals Shade Shop concept, in Manhattan’s SoHo area. The format puts a different spin on the company’s signature complexion products, merchandising them by what it calls shade family – light, medium, tan, dark and deep– in a streamlined, easy-to-navigate environment.