Digital Marketing

Brian Monahan, VP of marketing for Walmart.com, has left the chain (as of April 1) to go back to a startup he helped found in 2012.

Monahan, who joined Walmart in May 2013, is now serving as chief evangelist of San Francisco-based NewCo Festivals, a media and events platform he co-founded with John Battelle in 2012. NewCo hosts global events it calls “festivals” for start-ups and also publishes editorial content aimed at start-ups. In his new (or old) role, he will oversee brand strategy, sales and marketing, and product development.

Brand awareness and sales growth are accelerating at Duluth Holdings where the company’s rapidly expanding store base is so young it won’t be able to report same-store sale growth until 2017.

Belleville, Wisconsin-based Duluth Holdings, known to customers as Duluth Trading Company, grew sales 27.5% to $140.4 million and net income increased 25.8% to $17.5 million, or 58 cents a share, during the quarter ended Jan. 31. For the full year, total sales rose 31.2% to $304 billion. Net income grew 16.1% to $27.4 million, or $1.06 a share.

In what has been described as an historic rate reduction, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) will roll back postage rates on April 10.

The reduction – the first stamp prices have fallen since 1919 – is prompted by the removal of the 4.3% exigent surcharge. It will apply to several mail classifications, including letters, large envelopes, flats, and postcards.

Hunter, the British brand best known for its signature boot, has landed in Japan with style, opening a 3,100-sq.-ft. flagship that targets fashion-focused customers.

Designed by Checkland Kindleysides in collaboration with Hunter creative director Alasdhair Willis, the two-level store features the distinctive DNA of the brand’s London flagship, which offers a modern spin on the British countryside, but in a less literal sense,

L Brands’ Victoria’s Secret division had a record year in 2015, which is why chairman and CEO Leslie Wexner believes now is the best time to narrow the brand’s focus and simplify the operating model to drive long-term growth.
 

Best Buy Co. Inc. is expanding a test of same-day delivery service from San Francisco to 13 major metro markets across the U.S.

The electronics chain started the pilot in San Francisco last fall and expanded it to New York early in 2016. It has now added Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

Home Depot’s is touting improved omnichannel capabilities and an innovative product offering as its seventh annual “Spring Black Friday” sales event gets underway.

Value and communication are the keys to winning over millennial consumers, according to a survey of 600,000 consumers conducted by J.D. Power.

The 2016 survey polled more than 634,000 consumers, including 126,315 millennials and 246,594 Boomers. Pete Trujillo, senior manager of industry analytics at J.D. Power, hosted a webinar this week to highlight data from the survey, titled "Millennials Insight Report: The Customer Experience Perspective."

A new ad campaign from Food Lion, airing in select markets, promotes the message that the retailer has raised its standards, but not its prices.

The new campaign plays on familiar themes in the grocery industry — convenience, freshness, price and trust — and is designed to support Food Lion’s effort to upgrade the store experience in key markets, where major remodeling and remerchandising efforts have occurred.

After posting record results in 2015, leading rent-to-own retailer Aaron’s is looking to keep the momentum going with a new ad campaign that highlights the company’s