Mobile Marketing

New York -- According to Nielsen’s 2014 Holiday Retail Sales Forecast, nearly 25% of consumers polled had already started their holiday shopping in September. However, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are still relevant, as 52% of respondents in a just released Black Friday/Cyber Monday survey stated that they plan to venture into stores on Black Friday and 55% of respondents stated that they plan to fire up their computers for Cyber Monday. 

Department store retailer Belk has enlisted a hot male model to serve as a non-traditional Santa Claus at the center of a multifaceted digital initiative.

Recently, I participated in a strategic conference that included several sessions on how to effectively use advertising and promotion to reach moms, millennials, multiculturals and other shopper segments. Not surprisingly, significant emphasis was placed on the use of emerging digital and mobile media. But each session also reinforced that traditional media including television, radio, retail feature ads, and Free Standing Insert (FSI) coupons should not be undervalued.

Pleasant Ridge, Mich. -- Belk has teamed with HelloWorld, a provider of rich engagement solutions, to launch Santa Baby Sweepstakes, a holiday-themed multi-channel incentive program accessible across digital and mobile channels.   

Customers at Target are being given expanded opportunities to engage with the retailer this holiday season thanks to extended hours and early access to promotional offers.

Plug and Play brings together retailers and start-ups that offer specific technology and expertise that can relieve merchants’ pain points. Chain Store Age’s Customer Disruption newletter provides a Q&A with the CEO of one of those companies in each issue. This time, the spotlight is on John McIntyre of Sightly.   What does Sightly do?  

Minneapolis --The competition for the holiday shopper continues with the news that Target Corp. is kicking off the holiday season extra early this year, with plans to offer early access to Black Friday deals for one-day only on Nov. 10, a pre-sale on Nov. 26, and a 6 p.m. store opening on Thanksgiving evening.

Emeryville, Calif. –- Jamba Juice Co. has successfully optimized a campaign leveraging Fishbowl’s Promotions Manager solution, which enabled Jamba Juice to create optimized and reliable (one time use per code) promotions, distribute them both directly and through Groupon, then authenticate and track the performance in real time, capturing the underlying transaction data.