Digital Marketing

Retailer and CPG companies’ usage of Facebook to engage with customers helped propel the 10-year-old social media platform to record levels of usage, sales and profitability in the fourth quarter.

Facebook said its daily active users increased 22% to 757 million while mobile daily active users increased 49% to 556 million. Those who used Facebook on a monthly basis increased 16% to 1.23 billion and those who did so monthly via a mobile device totaled 945 million.

New York -- Modell’s Sporting Goods has deployed cutting-edge technology in its Times Square flagship to welcome Super Bowl XLVIII fans. The sporting goods retailer has installed a virtual image of CEO Mitchell Modell to personally greet customers. The image is provided via Tensator’s “Virtual Assistant” digital signage solution, which creates the illusion of a real person.
 

Kozy Shack, a 50-year-old pudding brand, is hiring a spokes-grandma to represent the brand nationally in online, broadcast and print advertisements.

The call for applications has been put out coast-to-coast: Pudding-loving grandmas can submit their applications at KozyShack.me/Grandma now through Jan. 31. More information can be found in job postings on Monster, Careerbuilder and LinkedIn.

Most mobile shoppers redeemed a coupon directly from their mobile device last year, according to a recent study from shopping app Key Ring, which is part of G/O Digital, a Gannett company.

The survey, conducted by Key Ring, examined more than 25,000 mobile shoppers and found that 75% redeemed a coupon from their mobile device in 2013, up more than 5% year-over-year. The study also showed that 80% of shoppers said their perception of a retailer would change for the positive if the retailer offered mobile deals and coupons.

Plans for the fragrance division of Marc Jacobs to open a pop-up in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood are not terribly unusual. But the type of currency the shop will accept is.

The Daisy Marc Jacobs Tweet Shop, which will be open during New York Fashion Week, from Feb. 7 to 9, will trade in social currency instead of money.

By Stacy Adams, VP marketing, mBlox

ShopAdvisor, is a mobile service that reminds consumers of the things they want to buy later on, has named Peter O’Kelly as chief data officer. He will lead the company’s efforts to turn its collection of intent and affinity shopping data into offerings for media providers, marketers and retailers.

By Rodney Mason, CMO, Parago

When the 2013 holiday shopping season ended, it resulted in sluggish results for U.S. retailers.  Price-match policies worked to fend off some showrooming, but these discounts also ate up margins at a very unhealthy rate.

A recent national shopper behavior study by Parago found that:

• The majority of smartphone owners showroom and regularly make purchases on their phones while in-store;