Digital Marketing

While the annual South By Southwest festival was underway in Austin, regional department store operator Belk was connecting with its core customers in the southeast by hosting a festival of its own.

Specialty online fashion retailer Rue La La is launching a series of themed online boutiques that tie in with the original digital consumer engagement channel – TV.

Rue La La is entering an exclusive partnership with ABC's hit show "Dancing with the Stars” by offering themed online shopping experiences. The first boutique, live at 3 p.m. ET on Monday, March 21, aligns with the premiere of "Dancing with the Stars" and is merchandised for a night of dancing for both men and women.

It’s been more than 15 years since they started ringing the death knell for brick-and-mortar retail. And although the Internet shopping base continues to grow, the in-store experience is here to stay. Even the doomsayers have quieted during recent years. There are simply too many things about in-store shopping that the online experience can’t offer.

Photo: Neal Davies, president and CEO, Effie Worldwide, (left) and Amy Hahn, senior VP of marketing, Ahold, (right) present an Effie Award to Matthew Parry, senior director of marketing at Walmart and Haley Prowell, associate marketing manager at Walmart.

Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Walmart and CVS Health were among this year winners of Effie awards, which recognize excellence in shopper marketing.

Harry & David is using social media to bring consumers back to the fun of a childhood Easter egg hunt.

The specialty gourmet gift retailer is hosting a social media giveaway called the “Eggciting Hunt Sweepstakes” through April 15 with hundreds of dollars of gift cards as prizes. Participants register online and then are sent on a hunt for clues to find virtual eggs on Harry & David’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Specialty apparel retailer New York & Company plans to convert even more of its nearly 500 stores to an outlet format following a strong finish to the year.

The pace of expansion slowed at Shoe Carnival in 2015 but the company produced respectable growth against a challenging prior year comparison that has it poised to achieve a major milestone in 2016.