Loyalty Marketing

 

By Lyle Bunn

 

Increasingly, more and more stores are utilizing flat-panel screens for digital messaging and customer engagement. Such initiatives are being advanced by a wide range of departments, from marketing to technology.  And they are referred to by a variety of names, including digital place-based media, retail media, dynamic signage, location-based digital display and enterprise media (the term digital signage is a bit dated.)   

San Francisco -- Eight in ten Americans are likely to shop at local businesses during the upcoming holiday season, according to a 2014 nationwide Nielsen survey commissioned by Yelp. Nearly half (47%) plan to spend more than $100 at local businesses.  

New York & Company has devised an interesting sweepstakes-based approach to ensure customers are lined up when its stores open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.

The operator of more than 500 stores said the first 200 shoppers to enter its stores beginning at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving will be entered to win $100,000 in the company’s first ever Win Big in New York sweepstakes. In addition to the $100,000 grand prize winner, each store will also have one $500 prize winner.

SearsRugs.com is the name of a new online marketplace that promises to make shopping for high end affordable rugs easy and fun.

The site launched recently and promises access to tens of thousands of the best handmade and machine-made rugs from around the world. SearsRugs.com, a licensee of Sears Holdings, said it is working with the retailer to provide an easy and fun shopping experience and indicated the relationship would give SearsRugs.com a substantial position in the online rug market.

Seattle -- Eddie Bauer is opening a pop-up store in New York City on Thursday, Nov. 6. The pop-up will be open through Feb. 14, 2015 and transform into a permanent flagship store to reopen in spring 2015. The store is located in the Union Square area of Manhattan.  

By Brian Mell, BannerView  

The younger generation appears to be more brick-and-mortar than anyone expected.  They may live and breathe online, but come the holidays, they are going to the mall, says the new “2014 Holiday Shopping Behavior Survey” from Simon, a global retail real estate leader. 

89% of respondents between the ages of 18 and 33 who plan to buy one or more gifts said that they intended to shop at the mall this holiday season.

Discount online shopping site Overstock.com has lowered prices on books and is offering a 15% bonus to loyalty members in what CEO Patrick Byrne is calling a price war with Amazon.

"We will analyze the results and cost benefits of this price war against Amazon and decide how long to continue the promotion. Right now it's scheduled to last through Cyber Monday," said Byrne.

New data from JLL’s 2014 Holiday Sentiment Report, which includes feedback from 800 largely national or global retailers in JLL-managed shopping centers across the United States, suggests retailers are optimistic about store performance, but are fighting the “survival of the fittest” match.  

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holiding Company joined the growing list of retailers with extended shopping hours on Thanksgiving and Black Friday.   Sears and Kmart stores will open on Thanksgiving Day, with Sears opening at its earliest time ever: 6 p.m, two hours earlier than last year. Kmart will open its doors for 42 hours straight, from 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving to midnight on Black Friday.