Social Media

J.C. Penney continues to be a bright spot in the retail sector with impressive increases in same-store sales and earnings, as well as a new marketing campaign that is generating a lot of buzz.

On Thursday, the retailer announced that same store sales grew 4.1 % for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 30. A combination of strong sales growth, accelerated gross margins and disciplined expense reduction resulted in full year adjusted EBITDA of $715 million, a $435 million increase.

U.S. consumers are willing to use mobile devices during the shopping process, but not so much at the end.

According to a new study of 23,000 global consumers (including U.S. shoppers) from PwC, “Total Retail 2016,” only 22% of U.S. consumers make a mobile purchase at least monthly and only 26% say mobile will become a main purchasing tool for them in the future. Deloitte cites the lack of widespread tools to make mobile purchasing easier, such as buy buttons, currently available in the U.S.

Most people do not get a paid holiday for “Leap Day,” Feb. 29.

Then again, most people do not work for online footwear and apparel retailer Zappos. Known for doing things a little differently, such as replacing the traditional bureaucratic management structure with decentralized “holacracy,” Zappos is taking a novel approach to Leap Day.

A new collection of five emojis created by Facebook gives users of the social media platform new ways to express themselves that could have huge implications for retailers.

One demographic in particular may want to break into a chorus of The Who’s “My Generation” when they use Pinterest.

New data from Pinterest shows that more than one in three of Pinterest’s 100 million global users are Millennials. With 75% of all content saved by Pinterest users coming from businesses, this reflects an opportunity to present brands and products to a Millennial-heavy audience.

Enabling consumer product discovery in the omnichannel age is not a simple or easy matter. Having merchandise available and visible on store shelves is no longer sufficient. Meanwhile, products consumers see on e-commerce sites are mostly determined by prior behavior or their search choices. Furthermore, it is hard to serve effective digital promotions on the mobile screens consumers are increasingly using to shop.

Petco is launching an omnichannel campaign in support of a new program designed to appeal to its target market: pet parents.

Petco's new and free Welcome to the Family Program supports all new pet parents, complete with a companion care pack, information on proper pet care and 24/7 support. The program helps pet parents as they expand their brood and embark on new adventures with the newest addition to their family.

Members of Target Corp.’s senior leadership team including CEO Brian J. Cornell, chief marketing officer Jeff Jones, and chief creative officer Todd Waterbury attended the recent TED Conference in Vancouver. In a post on the Target Bullseye Blog, the executives describe learnings such as the importance of empowering dreamers, the power of trust and reputation in social business, and why originals choose different Web browsers than everybody else.