Digital Marketing

In what promises to be the most digital holiday season ever, Amazon has issued an appeal to shoppers who want to avoid busy parking lots, crowded stores and long checkout lines.

Amazon’s appeal to shoppers was made in conjunction with the release of the online retailers 2014 Holiday Toy List and compounds traditional retailers’ already challenging effort to generate traffic to stores during the holiday season.

Oak Brook, Ill. -- McDonald’s USA will answer questions from customers through a multichannel effort called “Our Food. Your Questions.” The company invites people to submit their food questions via social media.    McDonald’s will respond with behind-the-scenes webisodes and other social content that provides facts on ingredients, how food is made and how it’s prepared in restaurants.    

The Maurices division of Ascena Retail Group is rolling toward a footprint of more than 1,000 locations with a new round of stores opening in advance of the holidays.

Maurices plans to open sixteen locations before November 10 giving the Ascena subsidiary a total of 938 locations. The company contends the U.S. and Canada can support more than 1,300 locations.

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Plug and Play Tech Center is launching its first Retail and Brand Meetup on Wednesday, Oct.  22, starting at 5:30 pm PDT. The free event will feature a panel of marketing experts discussing the future of marketing and the importance of brands and retailers staying in touch with the customer at all touchpoint during a consumers path to purchase.    

Austin, Texas -- Nearly half (46%) of consumers plan to start their holiday shopping before November this year, and one in four intend to have their holiday shopping completely finished by Black Friday. According to the RetailMeNot Shoppers Trend Report survey, conducted in conjunction with The Omnibus Company, 15% of consumers pick up winter holiday gifts throughout the year to spread out the cost.    Other notable findings include:  

Costco has extended its product offering to shoppers in mainland China by establishing a storefront on the Tmall e-commerce platform operated by Alibaba Group.

By Gary Ambrosino, President and CEO of TimeTrade   Hidden in the onslaught of negative headlines about former retail heavyweights, like JC Penney and Sears, is a slew of less-publicized, good news from smaller—many formerly online-only—retailers that are not only weathering the storm but are thriving.   

Duluth, Minn. –- Maurices is ramping up its store openings in time for the holiday season with plans to open 16 new stores. These expansions will give the girls’ apparel retailer a total of 938 locations, advancing it toward its goal of having more than 1,300 stores in the United States and Canada.