Digital Marketing

Armonk, N.Y. - Consumers headed online for their Valentine’s Day shopping this year. According to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark data, during Valentine’s week (Feb. 7 – 13) online shopping rose 10.2% from the same period in 2014.

In addition to overall sales, consumers ramped up their shopping efforts the week leading up to Valentine’s Day. Growth was seen in key verticals including:

Seattle -- Starbucks Coffee Company is taking its coffee to an entirely new level as it continues to target consumers who are willing to pay for super-premium brews. The company said Tuesday it will offer online customers subscription delivery of its small-lot coffees.

Jewelry retailer James Avery is offering shoppers a more interactive experience, one that connects customers to the brand, at its store in Apharetta, Georgia.  

In creating the next “home” for the 60plus-store James Avery, the challenge was to find a way to bridge current customers’ expectations and history with an invitation to new consumers who may not be familiar with the brand.

New York – A majority of business websites are not ready for prime time, at least when it comes to global commerce.

According to a new survey from multilingual search agency Oban Digital, while 67% of business executive respondents say that internationalization is a key part of their growth strategy, only 20% of businesses have all of their current online communications adapted for local culture or language, a key driver of sales success.

Interest in basketball heats up in February with the NBA playoffs around the corner and March Madness set to soon begin. To capitalize on the action, Foot Locker is out with a new spot featuring Kyrie Irving as part of its, “It Must Be February,” campaign.

The 30-second spot, titled "Acting," also stars Ice-T and opens with Irving showing off his latest KYRIE 1 signature Nike kicks, noting that fresh colors will be debuting at Foot Locker stores nationwide throughout the month of February. 

Minneapolis – Technology lovers who fall in love have a new online wedding registry option. On Feb. 16, Best Buy Co. Inc. will launch the Best Buy Wedding Registry.

Couples can create and manage their registry online or through the Best Buy mobile app. By early April, in-store kiosks in all Best Buy locations will help registrants and gift-givers view and print wedding registry lists. Couples will also have the option of syncing their registry with MyRegistry.com and TheKnot.com.

New York -- Twitter plans to acquire Niche, a startup that pairs content creators popular on such social media platforms as Instagram, Tumblr and Twitter's own Vine with brand advertisers.

Niche, founded in 2013, provides social media creators – its stable includes more than 6,000 – with free, cross-platform analytics on desktop and mobile, and serves as a non-exclusive talent rep to facilitate branded content deals with its network of companies and agencies.

Memphis, Tenn. - Fred's Super Dollar is enhancing its POS marketing efforts. The retailer has joined inStream's retailer network of 38,000-plus stores offering POS and digital marketing programs.  

The Fred's/inStream partnership will reach more than 2.2 million shoppers across 600 stores each week with targeted offers, on the "front" of their consumer receipts which will feature eye-catching graphics.