Retailer Campaigns

Minneapolis -- Target is making a concerted effort to pick up business from college students with a multifaceted omni-channel marketing campaign. At the center of the campaign is the Bullseye University Digital Experience, a new live online experience featuring popular YouTube personalities in a digital dorm. From July 15-18, college kids will be able to shop products from the digital dorm rooms, interact with the YouTube personalities, enter to win prizes and participate in live-streamed events such as concerts and workout sessions.

Minneapolis – Today and tomorrow, Best Buy is running a special promotion where consumers can bring in a working iPad 2 or third-generation iPad and receive a gift card worth $200 or more depending on model and condition of the iPad. As reported by All Things D, returns must be performed at a Best Buy store location and the gift card will be good for in-store or online Best Buy purchases.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target is aiming its latest digital marketing campaign at college students and their families just in time for the back-to-school season.

Called the Bullseye University Digital Experience, the multichannel marketing effort features popular YouTube personalities in a life-size "dorm" and allows people to buy items from the "dorm" between Monday and next Thursday and enter contests to win college gear.

Evansville, Ind. -- Value-priced footwear retailer Shoe Carnival will grand-open 12 stores in 11 different cities in July, bringing its store count to 367 stores in 32 states and Puerto Rico.

“We are excited to be growing rapidly across the country,” said Todd Beurman, senior VP marketing. New stores will open in: Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Charlotte, N.C.; Chicago; Lansing, Mich.; St. Louis; Greenville, N.C.; Cincinnati; Atlanta; Phoenix; Louisville, Ky.; and Grand Rapids, Mich.
 

Akron, Ohio -- Kay Jewelers said it has teamed with wedding site The Knot to launch an interactive wedding ring style quiz on Facebook.

As part of the promotion, consumers visit The Knot or Kay Jewelers on Facebook and answer questions about personal style and wedding ring preferences. Once complete, participants will receive their wedding ring personality types along with brand suggestions, and will be entered into a sweepstakes to win a pair of wedding bands from Kay.

New York -- Uniqlo is expanding its U.S. footprint. The Japanese apparel retailer, a division of Fast Company, will open 10 more U.S. stores this fall, in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and California.
 
The new locations, all in shopping centers, will bring the brand’s presence in the United States to a total of 17 sites.

The 10 new Uniqlo locations include:

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — Staples is taking a page from retailers like Macy’s and turning to social media as it gears up for the back-to-school shopping season as it encourages students to follow Staples on Facebook and Twitter with hashtag #StaplesHasIt.

It’s not your father’s Pep Boys...not by a long shot. The auto parts and service retailer is testing a new store concept designed to extend its appeal beyond its core DIY-car enthusiasts audience to “do-it-for-me” drivers, which include many female customers.

Business and friendship are generally considered incompatible. It’s hard to take the dispassionate, profits-first mindset that traditionally governs business transactions with a person you think of as a friend. However, in this burgeoning age of social media and social commerce, retailers need to make friends with their customers to maximize engagement, loyalty and profits.

The Limited helped changed the way women shop for apparel 50 years ago and this month it is commemorating the occasion with digitally inspired promotions the company’s founders could never have imagined.