Digital Marketing

Bollingbrook, Ill. -- Ulta Beauty came out of the gate running in the first quarter, reporting better-than-expected income and revenue amid strong same-store sales and online growth. The retailer plans to expand square footage by approximately 13% in 2015, with the opening of 100 net new stores.

Ulta Beauty said its net income increased to $66.9 million in the quarter, ended May 2, compared to $50.0 million in the year ago period.

New marketing efforts at Express appear to be resonating with customers, as the retailer posted a strong first quarter performance.

San Francisco -- Westfield Corp. and Forest City Enterprises on Thursday unveiled Bespoke, a coworking, event and tech-demo space designed to foster a retail-tech community and support retail innovation at Westfield San Francisco Centre. Bespoke is designed as a space where entrepreneurs, brands and retailers can come together to research, create, collaborate, refine, showcase and debut work within the confines of the shopping center, which features more than 200 retailers and restaurants.

ULTA Beauty is that rare breed of retailer capable of exceeding ever loftier growth expectations and it did so again with the release of first quarter results on May 28.

ULTA reported that net sales increased 21.6% to $868.1 million from $713.8 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2014. Same store sales increased 11.4% compared to an increase of 8.7% in the first quarter of fiscal 2014. The 11.4% same store sales increase was driven by 7.2% growth in transactions and 4.2% growth in average ticket. 

Minneapolis – Target Corp. is working with content discovery app Shazam to make print and TV ads shoppable through customer phones. The retailer is participating in the initial launch of Shazam’s new visual recognition functionality, which extends its mobile engagement platform allowing everything from packaged goods to print media and more are transformed from static images into dynamic pieces of content.

Los Angeles - Forever 21 Inc.’s social strategy has always been to mix compelling and creative branding with the ability to directly purchase items. Working with Philadelphia-based visual social media marketing company Curalate, the fast-fashion retailer has taken that strategy to new heights by allowing customers to buy goods from its Instagram page.

“Curalate helped us turn what was a purely branding tool into a revenue driver,” said Mario Moreno, global social media manager marketing, Forever 21, Los Angeles.

With hurricane season fast approaching, the Home Depot wants to encourage residents to shop its stores for storm-related gear by hosting nearly 700 storm workshops on May 30 from Texas to Maine.

Ann Arbor, Mich. - Domino's Pizza has announced several key internal leadership appointments and promotions, including naming Joe Jordan, 41, as VP and chief marketing officer.

Jordan has been with Domino's since 2011 when he began serving as the VP of marketing innovation. Most recently, Jordan was VP of field marketing where he spearheaded the realignment of interdisciplinary resources to better support franchisees at the local level. Prior to Domino's, he held marketing roles at Accenture, Philips, Unilever and PepsiCo Inc.