Retailer Campaigns

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway and the Safeway Foundation are holding an annual fundraising campaign together with the Muscular Dystrophy Association to support individuals and families affected by muscle disease. 

Seeking to boost back-to-school sales, 24 GGP malls will host Teen Vogue’s Back-to-School Saturday™ on Aug. 10.

For the second year in a row, Teen Vogue magazine has declared a national shopping holiday for Back-To-School.

This year, 100 malls and numerous national retailers — H&M, Topshop and American Eagle, for instance —have decided to see what the marketing concept can do for them.

Retailers will offer back-to-school deals and discounts, and the malls will host events.

Los Angeles -- Candy emporium Sweet! Hollywood has opened its flagship location at the Hollywood & Highland Center, in Hollywood, Calif.

The store is designed as a one-of-a-kind retail entertainment experience by envisioning the proverbial kid in a candy store and bringing that vision to life.

Emeryville, Calif. – Consumers in the U.S. and U.K. feel overwhelmed by targeted apparel marketing messages, but are responsive to messaging that includes genuinely personalized information. A new study of 409 U.S. and U.K. consumers from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) indicates that 66% of consumers say that many personalized apparel messages are annoying because attempts at personalization are superficial.

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah-based online retailer Overstock.com has a fresh round of TV ads, and they feature Snoop Lion (formerly known as Snoop Dogg), his wife, Shante, his daughter, Cori, and his sons, Corde and Cordell. 

The ads depict Snoop using Overstock.com to find products that solve his wife and kids' most pressing problems.

Los Angeles — Westfield, an Australian-based company that operates 47 U.S. malls, is leveraging mobile technology and social media to promote its back-to-school campaign. 

New York — Nearly 70% (68%) of consumers plan to spend up to $500 this back-to-school shopping season compared with 63% in 2012 and 48% in 2011, according to a new spending forecast from e-commerce platform provider PriceGrabber.  Additionally, 17% of respondents plan to spend between $500 and $1,000, and 15% of shoppers said they have no back-to-school shopping budget this year. Conducted from June 17 to July 8, 2013, the survey includes responses from 2,191 U.S. online shopping consumers.

Last week it was veteran retail analyst Walter Loeb bemoaning what he viewed as Walmart’s deteriorating store standards. This week Ad Age took aim at the company’s brand image.
 
In a piece by Simon Dumenco, he recounts how early shopping experiences at Walmart stores were an eagerly anticipated experienced. However, like Loeb Dumenco took a shot at the store experience and then when a step further.

Walmart has opened its first supercenter in Canada’s eastern Maritime provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The retailer, which has operated in Canada for nearly two decades, plans to invest $90 million this year in the renovation and expansion of nine locations in New Brunswick and Novia Scotia.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has some pretty vivid memories of back- to-school shopping: getting dragged out alongside my mother to buy new outfits and a few No. 2 pencils. Now, it seems like everyone in the retail world is finding a way to join the party.