Loyalty Marketing

Seattle – Starbucks Corp, is partnering with one of the world’s best-known media brands to provide an elevated news experience for users of its mobile app. As part of an expanded agreement with the New York Times, top news of the day as well as a selection of other articles, will be available for free via the Starbucks mobile app for My Starbucks Rewards loyalty members.

In a classic case of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” Neiman Marcus is deepening its relationship with an organization that could be viewed as a competitor.

New York – Even as retail marketing strategies shift in the new digital era, tried-and-true discounts still remain a crucial promotional device. According to new data from marketing personalization provider Sailthru, 97% of retailers use discounting as a pricing strategy.

LIDS Sports Group has selected a new charity partner that may resonate with many of its customers.

The company's philanthropic arm, LIDS Foundation, has named Our Military Kids as it 2015 national partner. The foundation presented a check of $200,000 to Our Military Kids to help sustain its efforts in keeping military children engaged in athletic, fine arts and tutoring programs.

Dallas – Neiman Marcus shoppers who want to get a gift card can now give a little something to receive one. Neiman Marcus Group Ltd. is partnering with luxury consignment provider The RealReal in a new program that offers consignors payment in Neiman Marcus gift cards with an extra 10% added to the value of their payout.

Retailers today are in a constant search for the industry’s Holy Grail – delivering an omnichannel brand experience across all touchpoints. Unfortunately, this quest to deliver on the promise of the omnichannel experience has given rise to a troublesome and pervasive problem known as fake omnichannel or “’fomni.”

Amid their search, retailers confront a wide array of commerce-related software solutions masquerading as omnichannel and promising to provide the type of seamless experiences shoppers now expect.

Gymboree is launching a colorful new campaign aimed at increasing awareness of a cause near and dear to the heart of its core customers.

The retailer has started a new effort to raise money in Gymboree and Gymboree Outlet stores to fund arts and crafts requests made by teachers on DonorsChoose.org. The goal is to fulfill classroom requests in every county where there is a Gymboree retail location.

Washington, D.C. - While paid search and email marketing still top retailers’ list of effective customer acquisition channels, social media has moved up the ranks to become an important tool for engaging with and attracting new customers. According to the State of Retailing Online 2015 report, conducted by Shop.org, Forrester Research Inc. and Bizrate Insights, 25% of retailers surveyed cite Facebook as a top acquisition platform.