Digital Marketing

Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores has enlisted four craft bloggers from around the country to create the 2014 Spring LookBook, a collection of inspiration based on five spring trends.

Seattle – Amazon.com is reportedly planning to pilot the sale of goods created by 3-D printers. According to the Cincinnati Business Journal, Amazon is partnering with Cincinnati area-based startup 3DLT and four other companies to launch a pilot where Amazon would directly sell 3-D printed products through its website.

Ebates has enlisted Epsilon, an Alliance Data (ADS) company, to help the leading online cash back shopping platform enhance its global email marketing services.

Per the multiyear agreement, Epsilon will provide robust, targeted email marketing services focused on driving sales and creating a more personalized experience for customers across Ebates' suite of websites and rewards programs including Ebates.com, Ebates.ca, Ebates Korea, FatWallet.com and Pushpins.

New Albany, Ohio – Abercrombie & Fitch Co. reportedly plans to shift its marketing and merchandising focus from teens to college students. According to Bloomberg, Abercrombie executives said they will shift marketing, assortments and pricing to appeal to the collegiate market.

Issaquah, Wash. – Costco Wholesale Corp. is reportedly attempting to draw in younger customers. According to The Seattle Times, after recently missing quarterly earnings estimates, Costco is taking active steps to attract a younger shopper demographic.

These steps include piloting a same-day delivery service with Google in San Francisco, building up its social and online efforts, and increasing its offerings of organic products such as kale.

By Gian Genovesi, Briteskies

When it comes to interactive marketing, too many retailers myopically focus on site visits, hits, or traffic. SEO and SEM are the most popular areas of focus, and I equate this to sports teams’ exclusive focus on scoring as many points as possible. Increasing the points your team scores, similarly to the traffic your site obtains, is a factor of success, but in no way the end-all-be-all in e-commerce success. After all, of the top 10 scoring offenses in NFL history, only one has won the Super Bowl.

Chicago – Sixty percent of Millennials would be willing to provide details about their personal preferences and habits to marketers, whereas Baby Boomers are much more protective of their personal information. According to a new study from Mintel, even for the most private of information, at least 30% of Millennials who claimed they would not provide it said they would do so after receiving an incentive offer (i.e., a $10-off coupon toward their next purchase), whereas for Baby Boomers only 13% could be swayed by these same type of incentives.

Coupons.com has gone public. The digital promotional platform has priced its initial public offering of 10,500,000 shares of common stock at $16 per share, which is above the reported expected range of $12 to $14.

Coupons.com has also granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 1,575,000 shares. Shares are expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange today under ticker symbol "COUP."

Goldman, Sachs & Co., Allen & Company LLC, BofA Merrill Lynch and RBC Capital Markets LLC are acting as bookrunners.