Retailer Campaigns

Given the origins of Cyber Monday, it should have become irrelevant in the grand scheme of online holiday sales. That’s far from the case though as evidenced by the latest insights from digital measurement firm comScore.

The leading digital measurement firm released data late Tuesday showing Cyber Monday sales increased 18% to more than $1.7 billion to establish a new record for the heaviest online shopping day in history. It was also the second day this season in which online sales surpassed $1 billion which was the case on Black Friday.

Unprecedented shopper traffic was seen at Target on Black Friday, according to president, CEO and chairman, Gregg Steinhafel, who also said the retailer provided exceptional service without offering much insight into sales.

Given the overwhelming emphasis on e-commerce, mobile apps and digital initiatives this holiday season, Target offered a trip down memory lane on its website, where it showcased some interesting marketing efforts.

Plano, Texas  -- J. C. Penney said that its same-store sales rose 10.1% for the fiscal month ending November 30, 2013.  The retailer's stock was up 4.6% to $10.57 percent in after-hours trading Tuesday.

Ann Arbor, Mich. – Domino’s is running a special global Facebook promotion giving customers in 42 countries a 50% discount on menu-priced pizza ordered online. Through Dec. 8, customers can visit their country’s Domino’s Facebook page to see if they can redeem the offer.

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in Nov. 2012 versus Nov. 2013 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains. Last month, Toys “R” Us experienced a decrease of more than 65% on the page count and ads per circular metrics. For the month of Nov., however, the toy retailer completely reversed course with year-over-year increases in page count and ads per circular accompanied by a very minor decrease in ads per page.

Chicago -- Shoppers visited more stores and spent more money across the days of Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday (Nov. 28 and 29) than they did last year, according to ShopperTrak.

When compared to Thanksgiving and Black Friday last year, brick-and-mortar shopper traffic increased 2.8%, to more than 1.07 billion store visits. Retail sales also increased by 2.3%, as shoppers spent an estimated total of $12.3 billion across the two days.

New York -- Online giant Amazon has opened a pop-up store in Westfield San Francisco Centre, San Francisco. The pop-up sells Kindle tablets and e-readers, as well as branded covers and power adapters from vending machines, according to The Wall Street Journal. It is one of a handful of pop-ups the company has opened in malls.

Citing one of the employees at the location, WSJ reported that the pop-up store would close after two weeks.