Digital Marketing

Teen specialty retailer Rue21 has launched a new juniors plus size division called Rue+ the company said its customers have been asking for.

The Rue+ division is intended to serve as a destination for trendy yet affordable plus size apparel and accessories that will inspire and empower plus sized girls to feel confident in how they look, according to the company. The product offering will be available at Rue21.com and in 22 of the company’s 1,100 stores nationwide.

Plug and Play brings together retailers and start-ups that offer specific technology and expertise that can relieve merchants’ pain points. Chain Store Age’s Customer Disruption newletter provides a Q&A with the CEO of one of those companies in each issue. This time, the spotlight is on John McIntyre of Sightly.   What does Sightly do?  

Customers at Target are being given expanded opportunities to engage with the retailer this holiday season thanks to extended hours and early access to promotional offers.

San Jose, Calif. –- EBay is launching a collaboration with artist and illustrator Mario Wagner to create an interactive art installation in New York City. Titled Art For All, the installation celebrates the recent launch of EBay’s new live auctions experience, which makes a selection of art and collectibles from auction houses around the world available on EBay.   

A one-of-a-kind interactive holiday adventure awaits families in several malls across the country. General Growth Properties (GGP) today unveiled Adventure to Santa, a DreamWorks DreamPlace holiday experience that starts with Shrek, ends with Santa and blends storytelling with cutting-edge technology.

Wayne, N.J. – Toys ‘R Us Inc. on Friday announced an array of holiday marketing initiatives along with the news that its stores  will open at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day Thursday, Nov. 27, the same time as 2013, and will remain open through 11 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 28, offering doorbusters and deals.  

Cute cat videos and funny dog tricks are everywhere on the Internet so it only stands to reason that Petco would unleash customers’ creativity with an Instagram contest as part of a larger holiday initiative.

Petco is encouraging shoppers to enter its holiday photo contest from Nov. 23 to Dec. 18 by submitting photos of their pets showing holiday spirit by following @petco and posting photos with #JoyLovePetsContest on Instagram. A winner will be selected every Friday and will receive a $1,000 Petco gift card.

New Albany, Ohio –- Abercrombie & Fitch reported net sales of $911.4 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2014, less than Wall Street forecast, down 12% from $1.03 billion in the year-ago period. The chain cited slowing mall traffic and weaker results in the latter part of the quarter.